Journey of the soul
by Crossingswords
Summary: This is what happens when you try to give the silent protagonist a backstory/ Hunter: who're you calling silent?/ Oh boy, here we go.
1. Chapter 1

Journey of the soul chapter one

This story is based on the events of the video game series fossil fighters. However I do not own the game fossil fighters or anything related to the game that I use in this story. Fossil fighters belongs to the companies that made it(that I don't remember off the top off my head). Without further ado, please enjoy this story.

Souls

Souls, or spirits, are what gives people their character. Every creature on this earth has a soul, be it good or bad. For the longest time, souls where known only as myth and the words of a madman. That changed the day that the machine worked.

At first, it was hard to believe. Bringing back the ancient titans of the past through the remains of their soul? It was unheard of. But, to the surprise of many, they were the first to witness the revival of the dinosaurs. Or rather, the Vivosaurs. Dinosaurs with the power in their soul amplified as the revival machine used the genetic code found in the bones of the creatures. Vivosaurs, more or less, were dinosaurs created souly (pun intended) with the remains of their soul. Supernatural giants with powers that could only be described as legendary. Their souls burn bright, but this tale is not about them.

This grand tale is about a young boy, no older than thirteen. He may not seem extraordinary, but in his soul lies the strength of a Vivosaur. And he will learn that a soul can be more than just a personality or an outlook. A soul is your other half.

Hunter stared out towards the deep blue ocean, the same color as his eyes. His grey shirt and cargo shorts flapped in the wind. His black crown like visor struggled to hold on to his ash grey hair. Around his neck dangled a chain holding a velociraptor claw. Hunter raised a gloved hand to block the sun. He tried to scan the horizon to find his destination. Vivosaur Island, every fossil fighter's dream. There, he could finally fulfill his own dreams. He could command mighty tyrants and make a name for himself. He would collect as many Vivosaurs as he can and together they would fight their way to the top. And most importantly, no one would know who he was beforehand. He could hardly wait.

"Hey, you there young man!" A voice called out behind Hunter, it was captain travers, the one who had agreed to take him to Vivosaur Island,"I've seen that spark in a hundred different eyes, you plan to become a fossil fighter don't ya?" Hunter nodded in response, the captain laughed,"what's your name, future fossil fighter?"

"My name's future master fighter, but everyone calls me hunter," Travers laughed as Hunter smiled.

"Well then Hunter, I assume you're a huge fan of dinosaurs, snitch one would you say is your favorite?"

"Definitely velociraptor."

"Well you'll definitely get to see velociraptor, and a lot more dinosaurs in a few minutes, take a look behind you." Hunter turned to see a flat piece of land on the horizon, but was much more exited when he saw pterosaurs flying over the island. He was here. Vivosaur Island

As the boat docked in the harbor, Hunter bade the captain a quick farewell and took a running jump off the boat. He took in the sights, large dome shaped buildings surrounded him. He looked at the buildings, using his memory of the many brochures he had read to name them. Relic hotel, the fossil center, and fossil stadium. After a quick check with the harbor receptionist, Hunter learned that he needs to check with island's head scientist to get his own fighters license. Hunter resisted the urge to rush into the fossil center and find the scientist, he still had all his bags and needed to check into his hotel room. Hunter entered the hotel, ignoring the screams in his head to get his license.

"Welcome hunter, we've been expecting you," the hotel manager was in a word, unsettling. His black attire was unnerving at best. But, Hunter was still grateful that he was able to arrange an agreement with the manager about his stay. Hunter would be allowed to stay for free as long as he would keep the room clean and be okay with having roommates if necessary. Hunter's room itself, was very simple. A bed, a desk, an outdated laptop, and a bookshelf. Then again, that was more then what he needed.

"Thank you," Hunter said as the manager handed him his key card. Hunter unloaded his things and stared out the balcony window, he was here. Vivosaur Island, a fresh start. Hunter contained his excitement as he ran to the fossil center. And while hunter excitement was nearly boundless, it would be nothing compared to when he entered the fossil center and would meet his new partner and lifelong friend. A raging tyrant was waiting to be awakened.

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my story. While I am aware that it is a little slow paced and shorter, the story will become a lot more exciting soon

Hunter: what do you mean? That was boring as crap!

…As I was saying, thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you all again soon in chapter 2!

Hunter: Can I actually do something in that chapter?

Keep talking Hunter, and the whole series will be you walking in your hotel room.


	2. Chapter 2

Journey of the soul ch2

Wow, I didn't think anyone would read this far.

Hunter: I didn't think anyone would read the first chapter.

Well no one's asking you. Anyway, I don't own fossil fighters and all that Jazz, enjoy!

Hunter dashed through the fossil center doors, ready to push through them. He didn't expect automatic doors. So when he held his arms out to push, he fell through doorway a skidded all the way to the counter.

"Well hello, excited new fossil fighter I presume?" Hunter looked up to see the receptionist staring down at him, her name tag red:Wendy.

"Yep," Hunter jumped up,"do you know where to find the islands head scientist?" Wendy was clearly taken aback by his upbeat attitude.

"You must mean , he should be in the cleaning room to your right. If you're here for your fighters license, he should be able to-," Wendy then realized she was talking to a dust cloud shaped like Hunter.

Hunter burst into the cleaning room. A man in a lab coat turned to stare at the sight of a young boy cursing automatic doors as he slid down the room. Diggins ran a hand through his turquoise hair.

"Hello there!,"Hunter looked up at the Doctor, "need a hand?" Diggins lifted the boy off the ground.

"Thank you, have you seen a scientist named ?"

"I would hope so, at your service," Hunter laughed and shook the doctor's outstretched hand. After he introduced himself, Hunter told Diggins about his Dream.

"So went to become a fossil fighter do you?" Dr. Diggins listened to Hunter's request, "I think I can clear my schedule for someone as eager as you, follow me." Hunter was lead to a large boxlike machine. Inside the machine, a rock was being scanned. Hunter pressed his face up against the glass, he could see bits of white bone protruding from the stone.

"First things first. If you want to be a fossil fighter, you'll need a Vivosaur," Diggins handed Hunter a hammer and drill, "ever dug up a fossil before?" Hunter nodded and shifted his gaze to the door in the machine.

My first Vivosaur is through that walked through the door and stared at the fossil rock.

"One more thing," looked at Hunter through the glass, "You'll have to clean the fossil within ninety seconds or it will lose potency and we won't be able to revive it."

"Wait what!?" Hunter wasn't aware of this!

"Yep, good luck!"

A large timer appeared on the screen on the side of the machine, one word appeared beside it:begin. Hunter used his hammer to remove the tougher layers of the rock and used the drill to carefully remove the last layer. Hunter finished cleaning with four seconds left on the clock.

Just barely made it, Hunter sighed.

"Great job! Your score is 99 out of 100 points." A computerized spoke out.

"99..99… that's a new record," Diggins said quietly, "congratulations Hunter, that is going to be a very strong Vivosaur. Speaking of which, you may want to step back." Too late.

"Commence Revival," the computer voice spoke again. A beam of light shot down from the ceiling and struck the fossil, which looked to be a head of some kind. Hunter shut his eyes to block the flare. Suddenly, Hunter felt the floor rise up. He fell down on something very rough…and wet. When he opened his eyes, he was sitting on the tongue of a dinosaur.

"Son of a spinosaurus," Hunter muttered as the Vivosaur pulled its tongue in. Hunter fell off with a shout and hit the vivosaur's foot with a thud.

Hmm, so much for first impressions, my vivosaur is probably wondering if he should eat me. Hunter took a better look at his new partner. It was a large theropod with a grey back and a green underbelly. Long spikes lined his backbone. Hunter remembered this vivosaur from his book. It was a Spinax.

The Spinax opened it's mouth to yawn, displaying rows of dagger teeth. The behemoth then gave a glance to the small creature on his foot. Hunter gulped, those blue eyes looked hungry.

You'd be hungry too if you were asleep for 78 million years

Hunter blinked in surprise. Did the vivosaur just speak to him in his mind? No that's impossible, and it's certainly NOT smirking at him right now.

"A Spinax! Perfect for beginners," Hunter had forgotten that was still there, "I'll let you two get to know each other first. Vivosaurs are highly intelligent, some can even connect with the fighter and here their thoughts! Hunter, meet me in the fossil stadium when you're ready for your battle exam." Hunter stared up at Spinax, who stared back. Suddenly, the creature lowered it's massive head and gave Hunter the most painful lick in history.

Ouch. Well I guess I should name it, although sandpaper tongue might be a bit long.

If you call me that I'll lick you again

So I'm not crazy, you can here my thoughts like Diggins said.

I bet that those Vivosaurs can't talk though

The giant lizard had a point, maybe he should tell Dr. Diggins about this? It certainly would be interesting to find out that Vivosaurs are smart enough to speak, but he also might call Hunter crazy. He definitely wouldn't get a Fighters license if everyone thought he was insane. Spinax suddenly began to glow a brilliant white light. Hunter looked away. When the flash was gone, so was Spinax. In his place was a medal with a green ring around it. On the medal was an engraving of Spinax. Dino medals, convenient.

Hunter exited the fossil center, swinging his velociraptor claw on it's chain and whistling.

Neat toy, where'd you get it? Spinax has made it his personal mission to see how much he could annoy Hunter with questions until he snapped.

It's a reminder of when I dug up my first fossil

Ooh, I feel a sad backstory behind that lie. come on, tell me your dark secrets. Hunter approached the fossil stadium doorway and smacked the pocket containing Spinax's medal against the wall

Ouch!

Oops, my bad. Hunter smirked to himself.

The Fossil Stadium's inside was similar to the fossil center's. Shelves chock full of books lined the right side of the room. A few benches on the left. A door labeled: common room, and a door labeled: stadium. Dr. Diggins was sitting on one of the benches and waved over at Hunter

"Did you have any trouble getting Spinax into his Dino medal?"

"Not really," Hunter replied, "He went in by himself."

"That's good. you're exam battle is in twenty minutes, plenty of time to explain the ins and outs of fossil battling."

Hunter pretended to listen to Diggins' speech, he's seen enough battles on tv to teach battling himself. Vivosaur attacks cost FP, rotate Vivosaurs if needed, take down all opponents to win, blah blah blah and all that crap.

"Well, looks like your up, knock em dead Hunter!" The doctor gave hunter a friendly pat on the back as he spoke to the receptionist, Tiffany.

"You're all set up for battle," Tiffany gestured towards the stadium door, "head to the door on your right when your ready." As Hunter walked up to the door, it just now occurred to him that he might lose.

Relax, we've got this

I hope your right. Hunter quickly checked Spinax's information on his vivo-watch. He had 71 health and 29 attack, considering this was a beginners match, he should be alright. As Hunter walked through the long hallway leading to the stadium, he heard the crowd screaming ahead of him. He was even more excited when he saw his opponent.

"Well look who it is, Future master fighter!" Captain travers' broad smile was contagious, "don't go easy on me now!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Hunter replied as the doors to the stadium opened. The arena itself was a large oval with crowds surrounding it, similar to a football field. Travers and

Hunter walked to the opposite sides of the stadium. Two announcers blared over the crowd.

"Hello everybody! I'm P.A. Leon with my partner Slate Johnson here for an exciting fossil battle! It's a beautiful day to get your fighters license slate, wouldn't you say?"

"It sure is, and that's exactly what our newest fighter is here to do, Everyone give a warm welcome to…HUNTER!" The crowd was cheering, but what got to Hunter the most was that they were cheering for him. They were encouraging him to win and he didn't want to disappoint.

You ready to rock, partner?

As long as I get to bite someone.

"Let's get started folks, fighters, call out your Vivosaurs!"

"Goyo, time to fight!" Travers called out a blue pachycephalosaur with small multicolored stripes.

"Let's do this Spinax!" Hunter called out his own partner and the battle began.

"Rock head!" Goyo started the battle with a special attack, knocking its head into Spinax. The tyrant snapped at the smaller vivosaur, but it had already jumped out of the way.

Goyo has higher speed, we can't get a hit in! Goyo began circling Spinax and scratching him. Spinax whipped his tail around to knock the little vivosaur back. The tyrant arched his back spikes and charged, but Goyo jumped out of the way and Spinax smashed into the wall.

This is getting us nowhere, Spinax was growling in Hunter's head.

Hang on, wait until he uses rock head again. They didn't have to wait long. Goyo charged at Spinax again, but he whipped around towards the vivosaur.

"Spinax fang!"

Literal sparks flew out of Spinax's mouth as he slammed his jaws into Goyo, returning it to it's Dino medal.

Hunter had won.

"Well done Hunter!" Captain Travers was congratulating hunter in the main lobby, "how about a reward for winning your first fossil battle," he passed the young boy a fossil rock, "it's a velociraptor leg fossil, the head is out there for you to find!" Travers left with a wink and Dr Diggins now walked up.

"Congratulations Hunter, you are now an official fossil fighter." Diggins handed him a laminated card. On it were the words: Hunter, level 1 fossil fighter, as well as the photo he had submitted ahead of time.

He was a real fossil fighter now.

Look at mr. fancy pants over here, he's got a card that says he's important.

Can you at least pretend to be happy?

I am happy, we have a do whatever we want and get away with it card.

Dr Diggins bade hunter goodbye and gave him instructions to talk to the receptionist at the docks and tell her Diggins sent him.

Hunter's walk to the hotel was quiet, mostly because it was now nighttime and partly because Spinax was stuck between his pocket and the new fossil rock. Hunter silently entered his room and laid the new fossil on his bookshelf

Bwuh! Thank the revival machine for fresh air!

Ha…goodnight partner

Night

Hunter stretched out on his bed, today had certainly been eventful.

Thank the revival machine for skipping tutorials! I am aware that you were supposed to have battle practice before the fight, I just didn't think that it would be very interesting.(yes I'm going to skip the trial dig site too).

Hunter: it's almost like an apology for chapter 1

Careful, I can make you sleep forever. Thank you for reading! Leave a review if you feel like it!


	3. Chapter 3

Journey of the soul chapter 3

…

Hunter: Cross found a huge typo in chapter two and is now in a clinical depression.

…

Hunter: when Wendy first speaks to me in the fossil center she is supposed to refer to the scientist as Dr. Diggins but instead doesn't say anything, we apologize for this.

…sorry

Hunter: cross doesn't own fossil fighters. Also this segment may be rated T for reason that will be explained with the chapter!

Wake up, we have a package!

Hunter groggily opened his eyes and sat up. He opened his hotel door and saw a box that went up to his kneecaps. He brought the box inside and tried to remember the dream he had. It was a good one too.

Wait, Spinax, how did you know we had a package?

A guy was knocking on your door for ten minutes until he gave up and said he was going to leave it there, heavy sleeper are you?

Hunter shrugged and opened the package. Inside was a wrist watch but with no face, a backpack with an odd strap over it, a small case, and an odd compartment with five slots that fit on hunter's belt. A note laid at the bottom. Hunter put on the wristwatch, then started to read the letter.

To Hunter,

This box should contain everything you need to start out as a fossil fighter. The backpack serves as a fossil case and can hold up to eight fossils. The wristwatch is a portable fossil sonar, just tap it to scan the area for fossils. The small compartment is for your battle ready vivosaur team, you can hold five Dino medals in the compartment, but keep in mind you can only use three at a time. Finally, the case is for every Dino medal you aren't using. There's over a hundred known vivosaurs, so try to collect them all! I heard that you already had a pickax, so your all cleared to go to your first dig site.

Best of luck

Dr. Diggins

Hunter changed into more suitable clothes before putting on the rest of his new gear. Now in regular attire, Hunter looked at himself in his mirror.

Pretty slick, Spinax noted

Who says slick anymore?

Remember, I'm 78 million years old. So if you want to get all technical, I'm saying that before it was cool.

Fair enough. Hunter shifted his gaze to his pickax that was leaning against the wall. The blade was red on top and grey on the bottom and it had a blue handle. It used to belong to Hunter's father before… the accident.

Accident?

It's nothing Spinax

I know nothing about you, that's fine? Spinax did a long, mocking sigh.

Well, what do you want to know

Nothing really, our minds are connected so I can see your memory. I can't find anything about this accident though

Wait, you can see into my mind?

Yep, strange isn't it?

I'll say, how much have you seen?

You've been an orphan most of your life. Your parents died in a freak accident. Your lifelong dream has always been to be a master fighter. You're wanted for murder. Oh, and your favorite color is blue. How'd I do? Care to explain about one of those in particular?

Hunter sighed, I'll tell you someday, but all you need to know now is that it was an act of self defense

All I needed to hear, I believe you

Thanks

Hunter grabbed his pickaxe and headed out the door. He decided to clean his new fossil rock before he headed to the dig site. He was in for a shock when he entered the cleaning room.

Dr Diggins was working on a large blue machine, beside him was a hovering blue robot. They both turned when Hunter entered the room.

"Hello there Hunter!" Diggins smiled at the young boy, "there's someone I want you to meet!"

The robot did a twirl in the air, "greetings, I am KL-33N, pleased to make your acquaintance." Hunter shook KL-33N's extended hand, the robot had a firm grip.

"This little guy is a cleaning assistant for every fighter on Vivosaur Island," Diggins explained, "he can even learn to clean by himself!" Hunter nodded. Hopefully now he wouldn't have to have his vivosaurs revived on top of him with this robot's help.

"This," The Doctor gestured towards the large blue machine, "is a vivosaur management machine, or VMM. With this, you can have access to every Dino medal you have! Perfect for team management."

"How do you guys build this stuff?" Hunter asked, genuinely curious, "the technology is way ahead of its time."

Diggins suddenly became very nervous. He scratched the back of his head and laughed, "oh you know, technology these days is always ahead of its time! Hahahahahaha," Diggins bade hunter a quick farewell. He knew there was no use in trying to get a truthful answer, so instead Hunter focused on cleaning the velociraptor fossil. He scored a 94, but was unable to revive a vivosaur since it wasn't a head fossil.

"Goodbye Hunter," KL-33N said as he left.

First things first, Hunter thought to himself, I need more than one vivosaur

Why? I already sweep the competition

You've battled once against a rank 1 Goyo and your only rank 2 yourself

Tch. When you put it that way…

Satisfied that he had finally won an argument with Spinax, hunter made his way to the dock.

"Oh, hello again!" The receptionist, Beth, said as Hunter approached her.

"Hello," Hunter handed Beth his fighters license, "Dr. Diggins told me that this is where I can go to a dig site."

"I see," Beth examined the license, "as a level one fighter, you have access to greenhorn plains."

"Great, when can I go there?"

"Captain Travers ship returns to the dock every half hour, you'll just have to wait until then."

Hunter hung his head, it was only 11:07 and now twenty minutes would feel like two hours. As he walked away he didn't see the other boy running towards him.

"Watch out!" The two collided, Spinax's Dino medal flew out of hunter's pocket and began rolling…towards the ocean!

Assistance would be appreciated!, Spinax roared in hunter's ear. He, along with the other boy, charged after the Dino medal. Hunter desperately ran, he wasn't going to catch him in time!

"V-raptor! Catch that Dino medal!" The boy tossed a medal forward and a small vivosaur appeared. It was white with blue highlights along its feathers. Sharp claws and a sickle claw on its foot told hunter that this was the vivosaur equivalent of a velociraptor. The v-raptor dashed forward, much faster than the two boys, and caught Spinax between its teeth right before he went over the edge.

"Thank you Thank you Thank you!" Hunter received his medal from the vivosaur and stroked its head a few times before the creature returned to a Dino medal. The other boy caught up and Hunter began thanking him too.

"It's no problem really, it was kind of my fault that happened anyway." The boy was wearing an archeologist's helmet and a yellow scarf. His clothes were mostly black with yellow and red stripes.

"But you also saved my only vivosaur," Hunter replied.

"That's your only one?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of a rookie,"

"Hey, we've all gotta start from somewhere," the boy tipped his hat, "I'm holt, what's your name?"

"Hunter, though most people call me rookie." Holt laughed. The two became fast friends. Since Holt was also going to greenhorn plains, they passed the time by talking about the best vivosaurs.

"It's definitely perso," Holt said, "it's so huge, most attacks don't even effect it!"

"No way! Guan is totally the best," Hunter countered, "it boosts your lead vivosaurs attack by ninety percent, and when the going gets rough it'll transform into a T-Rex!" Holt and Hunter went back and forth until Beth's voice rang out due to a megaphone.

"All fighters boarding the 11:30 boat please report to the docks." Hunter and Holt continued the debate on the boat ride which won them some odd looks, but Hunter didn't care. He had made a friend. Back at the orphanage, Hunter was always the weird kid that no one wanted to go near.

Such a tragic story, care to explain how that leads to you being a framed

Criminal? Spinax was now clicked into one of Hunter's battle team slots and didn't have to worry about being smashed into a wall.

I said I'll tell you everything later

Now is later

Now is now, later is later, and a cracked Dino medal is a quiet vivosaur so how about you stop

Sure thing mom. Hunter sighed with relief as Spinax shut his mouth and the boat docked in greenhorn harbor.

Greenhorn plains it self was a flat grassy plateau with a few trees here and there. Hunter and Holt went their separate ways and bade each other goodbye. Hunter tapped the screen on his sonar and followed a green blip on the radar until he was right on top of it. The pickax struck the ground with a thud, and Hunter pulled out a fossil rock. He slid the fossil into his backpack. Strangely, it didn't feel any heavier. He repeated this process four more times and the pack never became heavier. Hunter also noticed that his sonar had a tendency to find normal rocks. With his case half full, hunter noticed a man standing by a gate at the end of the dig site.

"Greetings, I am a staff member of the fossil center," the man's glasses shined as he spoke to Hunter, "beyond this area are incredibly rare fossil rocks. However, in order to enter, fossil battles are prohibited so you will have to leave your Dino medals with me." Hunter didn't like the look of this guy, but incredibly rare fossils? What sane fossil fighter would pass that up?

Go ahead, I could use a break. Hunter was so excited about rare fossils that he didn't point out that Spinax hasn't been doing anything that requires a break. Hunter promptly handed over his Dino medal.

"Thank you," the staff member stepped aside to let Hunter through, "now go, and dig to your hearts content! Mwah ahahahaha!" Evil laugh, Hunter really didn't like this guy.

The area itself was similar to the rest of greenhorn plains, but it also had much more fighters digging in it. Hunter threw his pickax down after he used his sonar and uncovered… a normal rock. As Hunter put the rock back he noticed he was being stared at.

The person in question was a girl that looked slightly younger than him. She had an archeologist hat similar to Holt's except that it was bright pink. She wore a shirt of the same color with a pin that had some sort of blue jewel on it. Her shirt ended in a skirt that was a darker shade of pink. Her shoes were the same color as the pin. Her pink eyes were staring straight at Hunter.

"Hello," Hunter said, smiling.

"Hmm," the girl rested a hand on her chin, "I don't think I've seen you around here before. You must be one of the rookies. Anyway, good luck!" As she walked off Hunter stuck his tongue out. He knew it was childish but he didn't care. Just who did that girl think she is calling him a rookie when she is literally in the dig site for rookie fossil fighters!

Hunter took out his anger on a nearby patch of dirt that uncovered…another normal rock. Third attempt, another rock, hmm. Fourth attempt. You guessed it, a rock.

Yeah, Hunter thought, I got scammed. He charged back towards the gate, that guy has Spinax! But when he got there, no one was in sight. That their hadn't gotten away with it! Hunter pounded himself on the head for giving his Dino medals to a total stranger.

Why was I such an idiot?!

I have a few answers but I don't think you want to hear them

Hunter jolted at the sound of the familiar voice, his eyes drifted to a sparkling spot on the ground. Spinax's Dino medal! Hunter gleefully picked it up.

I really need a vacation, Spinax grumbled, I'm getting to old for this

Good to see you again too partner.

Hunter clicked the Dino medal back into his holder. Now he had to find that guy and get the Dino medals back from everyone else who had been tricked. The fossil center seemed like a good place to start since that's were the thief said he was from. But before Hunter could set off, the sound of footsteps made him turn.

It was the girl from before. Only now, she clearly looked angry.

"Hey! Where did he go!" The girl walked up to the place where the thief was standing, "that guy lied to me! There wasn't a single rare fossil back there, just a bunch of old junk!"

Hunter could only think of one word: duh.

"You!" The girl turned to Hunter, "did you see where he went?" But before he could reply, the girl noticed the shining object on his belt.

"Hey, you've got your Dino medals, how'd you manage that?" The girl thought for a moment, then answered the question herself, "I get it. You're a rookie and you've only got one Dino medal so you must be pretty weak. He probably just threw the medal away." Hunter and Spinax both roared in anger.

Weak? Me? Who does this girl think she is?

I know right? She is in the freaking dig site for rookie fighters, and she has the nerve to call me a rookie?!

The girl seemed oblivious to Hunter's inner rage and instead grabbed his wrist.

"Come on!" She said, "we have to get to the bottom of this!" As the girl dragged hunter away, he could only think of one thing.

What have I gotten myself into?

That vacation's lookin' pretty good right now, don't you think?

Yep…

Was I the only one who thought that the girl (avoiding spoilers) was completely condescending when you first meet her?

Hunter: now you decide to talk?

Yep, and you know what I say?

Hunter: thanks for reading and leave a review if you feel like it?

You know me so well.


	4. Chapter 4

Journey of the soul chapter 4

I don't really have much to say, enjoy! (Actually I apologize for the wait on this chapter and would like to thank Brightclaw237 for leaving a review)

Hunter: I have lots to say. WHY DO I STILL HAVE ONLY ONE VIVOSAUR! (Cross does not own fossil fighters and all that stuff)

I'll get to that in a moment

Hunter drilled away at the last fossil in his case. KL-33N cheered as Hunter's score was revealed: 96. The vivosaur appeared in a flash of light, a v-raptor. Hunter stroked the creature's side before it turned into a Dino medal. He clicked the medal into place right next to Spinax and another new vivosaur: goyle.

"Are you done yet?" Hunter walked out of the revival machine to see the girl from before tapping her foot impatiently. Hunter sighed as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him back into the lobby. He was hoping that the girl would've gone without him so he could find the Dino medal thief on his own, but she was just so persistent.

What can I say? Girls just flock around me. Hunter snorted at spinax's joke and tried to pass it off as a sneeze when the people in the lobby gave him a look.

"I hope you have an explanation for this!" The girl was now yelling at the receptionist. Exactly who does she think she is?

"I'm sorry, but what exactly do you mean?" The receptionist, wendy, seemed genuinely puzzled.

"You know what happened, one of your employees stole my Dino medals in greenhorn plains!"

"Greenhorn plains you say?" Wendy walked towards the back door behind the counter, "let me check the duty roster, it'll just take a sec," when she returned, Wendy had an even more confused look.

"That's odd, we don't have anyone scheduled for work in greenhorn plains today."

"What!?" The girl threw her hands back in surprise…and smacked hunter in the face, "I've had enough of this, c'mon! We're going straight to the police!" The girl dragged the slightly dazed hunter out of the fossil center. The people outside were treated to an odd sight: a girl pulling a boy across the ground by his wrist and not letting him stand up. When they finally reached the police station in the guild area, Hunter had a scrape on his cheek the size of Spinax.

While the girl spoke to the officers behind the counter about seeing the police chief, Hunter stuck a band aid on his cheek and began contemplating his next move. Could he get away now without anyone seeing? This girl wasn't helping and he needed to find that thief… maybe he should-

"Okay, Thank you!" All of Hunter's hopes of escaping were dashed as the girl grabbed his wrist again. It also didn't help that Spinax had been laughing hunter's ear off the entire time.

You should see the look on your face! Hunter calmly removed spinax's Dino medal from the holder, put it in his pocket, and then slammed his side into the doorway of the chief's office.

You need to learn to lighten up dude.

Says the twelve ton dinosaur. The office itself was simple enough. A hallway leading to a square room. The bulky police chief was rather startling, but the enlarged photo of him on the wall made Hunter want to turn around.

"Captain bullwort!" The girl ran up to the captain, "we have an emergency!"

Captain bullwort laughed, "what's wrong little girl. Did someone take your dolls or something?" Hunter chuckled and the girl shot him a glare.

"Hardly, my Dino medals have been stolen! My Dino medals! Do

I even count as a fighter without them?" Now, it was Hunter's turn to speak.

"It wasn't just her, multiple fighters had their medals stolen by someone posing as a fossil center staff member in greenhorn plains."

"That is serious, I'll deploy officers in all dig sites to see if we can find this thief. But we'll need to know what to look for, do you have a description of this suspect?" Hunter opened his mouth, but the girl excitedly jumped in front of him.

"Yeah! He… had eyes like a lambeosuarus and a…mouth like an anotitan!"

Bullwort rested his chin on his hand, "hmm…this may be more difficult than I thought." Hunter shook his head and gave his description.

"It also might be good to know that he would be disguised as a fossil center staff member." Bullwort nodded and thanked hunter. Then an idea popped into Hunter's head.

It didn't pop into your head, I've been yelling it at you since you walked into the station!

"The thief just stole a bunch of new vivosaurs," Hunter said, "so maybe he'll be going to a place to try them out like-"

"The fossil stadium!" The girl yelled, clearly excited, "c'mon let's go!" With a quick thank you to bullwort, the girl grabbed Hunter's wrist and for the third time today, started dragging him around again.

The fossil stadium was packed with fighters. All of them looked pretty tough. Hunter gulped and looked down at his three vivosaurs. Spinax, v-raptor, and goyle. Would they be enough to win?

Chill out. The thief stole vivosaurs from greenhorn plains, the first dig site.

Hunter knew Spinax was right but he couldn't help but think he was going to lose as he handed his fighters license to Tiffany.

"Hunter, level one fighter," she read

Level one. Just starting, completely helpless amateur. Hunter shook these thoughts out of his head as he walked down the hallway to the stadium, followed by the girl.

"You know what?" She tilted her head and looked at him, "I've been dragging you around this island and I never even told you my name! I'm Rosie, just so you know." Hunter nodded

"Hunter,"

"That's a nice name," the doors to the stadium opened revealing a fossil fighter staring Hunter down from the other side of the stadium. Without waiting for hunter to even take his position, the opponent called out two vivosaurs.

"Spinax! V-Raptor!" The vivosaurs eyed hunter with steel eyes. Hunter pulled his own Dino medals off his holder with a click.

"Hey! That guys using my vivosaurs! That rat!" Rosie turned to go to the spectators stands, "You definitely have to that thief down Hunter!" Hunter nodded and walked out into the stadium. He could barely hear the announcers over the din of the crowd.

"Time for a fossil battle folks! As always I'm P.A. Leon with my partner Slate Johnson. Today's match pits Hunter against P.B. Jay!"

P.B. Jay? Now I'm hungry, Spinax growled, but kicking some tail works too.

Hunter smiled and threw his medals with determination.

"Alright guys! Time to fight!" Spinax roared into battle, accompanied by the white raptor and the blue ankylosaur. The battle started fiercely as both v-raptors locked claws and snapped furiously at each other. The two Spinax smashed into each other. Goyle poised itself in a defensive position and Hunter saw a blue light emit from goyle and transfer over to Spinax.

"Support effects added" Hunter's vivo-watch displayed the data. Spinax had received a boost to his attack and defense. The opposing Spinax attacked using Spinax fang, but was shocked to find that its teeth bounced off of the scales. Spinax retaliated, charging with his spines arched to stab the opposition. The attack crashed into the other Spinax and the collision sent it sprawling on the floor.

Meanwhile, Hunter's v-raptor had locked its jaws on to the other raptor and refused to let go. Deadly poison seeped from the vivosaur's teeth. The opposing raptor smacked its tail into the other multiple times, but it wasn't enough. The poison took its toll and the velociraptor slowly faded away in a flash of white light. Hunter's v-raptor hissed in victory, but it was short lived as the opposing Spinax side checked it into the wall. Hunter watched in fear as his teammate faded away. Hunter felt the Dino medal reappear in his holder, but that didn't stop his anger.

Big mistake, Spinax roared in fury. Hunter looked up spinax's skill set and chose the one that would be the most fitting for revenge. Goyle held off the other Spinax as Hunter's Spinax began to glow with gold light.

"Spinax combo!" After shouting these simple words, Hunter watched in amazement as the spectacle in folded. First a Spinax fang, followed by a side ram. The opposing Spinax tried to defend itself, well, tried to. The sound of the vivosaur being knocked into the air and falling back onto the ground shook the entire stadium. Spinax roared in victory before turning towards Hunter, and then he gave a smirk that plainly said: nobody attacks my teammates and gets away with it. (Hunter knew this is what it meant because Spinax said it too).

"Good job Hunter!" Rosie gave hunter a pat on the back as he returned to the lobby, "now to deal with this thief," she turned towards P.B jay, "I'll take my Dino medals back now, thank you"

The fossil fighter stared at Rosie in confusion, "Now hold on, I bought these Dino medals with my own money, what makes you think their yours?"

Rosie was taken aback by this, "You…you bought them? But those are the Dino medals that were stolen from me!" Hunter sighed

"Rosie, this guy probably bought them from the real thief," Rosie paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Hunter turned towards Jay, "do you remember what the guy who sold them to you looked like?" Jay nodded.

"Sure do. He called himself medal dealer joe, you can't miss him. He's got eyes like a lambeosaurus." Hunter tried to ask for actual details, but Rosie cut him off.

"That's the guy! Thank you!" Rosie was practically jumping with joy, "look, I know that you're a victim here and I feel bad, but do you mind giving me back my Dino medals?"

Jay complied, "of course, here's all the ones I bought. I never would have bought them if I knew." It turned out that jay didn't have some of Rosie's medals, he had ALL of them.

Calling Rosie ecstatic was an understatement. She was literally crying tears of joy. Jay left, saying he would inform the police and Hunter collected the prize money for winning. He noticed that Rosie was also about to leave.

"Where are you going?" Rosie turned to face him.

"What do you mean? I've gotten my medals back so I'm heading home." Hunter sighed. Why did he even bother.

"Rosie, we still have to get back the rest of the medals back. This medal dealer joe guy sounds like a serious criminal too, we should stop him."

"You guys are looking for medal dealer joe too?" Hunter looked over his shoulder to see holt walking up.

"Hey Holt, did joe take your medals too?" Holt suddenly became very serious.

"Yeah, he got my V-raptors," Hunter picked his ear, did he hear that right?

"RaptorS? As in, plural?"

"All 101 of them," Holt was on the verge of tears, "he got Odin, Thor, Steve-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, do you have any idea where this guy is?"

"He said something about doing business in greenhorn plains but-" Holt stopped talking when realized that Hunter had left.

"Role reversal much?" Hunter had to agree with Spinax, dragging Rosie through greenhorn plains by her wrist was a bit odd. Hunter headed straight for the junk pit that started this whole mess. Sure enough, a "fossil center employee" was digging a hole. Next to him was an old tire.

Spinax found this amusing, "that's not even remotely convincing. A tire in a dig site." Hunter had to agree. He tried to sneak up behind joe but unfortunately, Rosie also saw the thief.

"Found you medal dealer joe! Or should I say medal stealer joe?" Joe whipped around and, of course, Hunter was right behind him and got slapped in the face by a fossil center employee disguise. When he pulled a rather foul smelling jacket off his face, he was face to face with joe. He wore a red tank top with baggy pants, but his orange hair that looked like the top of a squid was what made Hunter burst into laughter.

"Think I'm funny do you?" Joe gave an evil grin, "we'll see who's laughing once I knock you flat with your own vivosaurs!"

"Oh, you mean these?" Hunter replied coolly, spinning Spinax on his finger and gesturing to his other medals, "you seem pretty confident you can beat me. How about a one on one battle then? If I win, you give back the medals you stole. If you win. You get all of my medals and any vivosaur I revive ever. Deal?"

Joe snickered, but Hunter saw his confidence flag, "You just signed your death note kid," the two back up from each other, leaving enough room for two vivosaurs.

"Are you crazy Hunter?!" Rosie was yelling at the top her lungs, "you just put your entire fossil fighting career on the line for people you don't even know!" Hunter wasn't listening, he was to busy arguing with Spinax.

You're an idiot, Spinax grumbled.

You can insult me after we win, try to have some confidence. Chill out, relax. Spinax became silent. Hunter had just used his own confidence boosting words against him.

"Metria! Win me some medals!" The vivosaur joe called out reminded Hunter of spinosaurus. Except that it was completely green and had a head shaped like a ball.

"Spinax, let's rock n' roll!" Hunter spun the medal on his finger before throwing his own vivosaur into battle. The two titans sized each other up. Their gazes were unwavering. Then Spinax attacked not by biting, ramming, tail whipping. Or even stomping, but by vomiting on metria.

"You should not have spun me around so many times" Hunter replied to Spinax by stifling a laugh. The vomit had landed in metria's eye and it was now flailing wildly. Spinax seized the moment by locking its jaws onto metria's tail and yanking it to the ground. Metria used its good eye to recover a whipped Spinax with its tail. The enraged spinosaur was out for revenge. Spinax charged at metria, but was met head on, literally. The collision put both vivosaurs in a daze but Metria was the first to recover and attacked with his own special move: green fang. Spinax managed to defend himself, but still took quite a bit of damage.

"New ideas would be appreciated!" Spinax roared as he butted heads with Metria again. Hunter checked his vivo-watch. Spinax had 39 health, Metria had 42. They were even, but Metria would win…unless.

Release the storm, let it rage. Hunter blinked in surprise. Where did that voice come from? It wasn't Spinax…release the storm… that's it!

"CYCLONE!" Hunter shouted with all his might. Spinax reared back… and shot a tornado out of his mouth. A T-O-R-N-A-D-O-! The storm struck Metria square in the head and abruptly ended the battle.

"No way! I never lose!" Joe wailed. Hunter snapped his fingers in victory.

" there's a first time for everything, now hand over those medals," joe complied, giving Hunter a case that was filled to bursting with Dino medals.

"Remember this kid, you haven't stopped me, not by a long shot!" Joe was now running away at top speed," you haven't seen the last of me!"

"I think I have," Hunter replied, smiling as he heard police sirens.

Hunter stared out at the sunset on his hotel balcony. The police had arrived and bullwort himself put the cuffs on joe. They had given Hunter the reward money for joe's capture. He offered to split it with Rosie but she declined, saying she "wouldn't need it". The medals would be put in a special lost and found at the police station. (Except

All of the V-Raptors. Hunter counted, there were exactly 101). Level up battles were tomorrow, so hunter had nothing else to do. He walked over to his photo album and turned it to the only photo. It showed him as a 7 year old kid, standing in front of a man and a woman.

"I don't have to ask who those guys are." Spinax said quietly

"I'm not going to explain things, but these guys are the reason I'm wanted for murder," Hunter said this aloud as he laid down on his bed, "I never wanted to kill anyone, but to save my par-" Hunter was asleep before he realized he was tired.

In the docks of the park area, two shadows watched the hotel. The slightly taller one seemed annoyed, the shorter one seemed curious.

"Specimen X has become too dangerous," the taller shadow grunted, "it must be disposed of"

"X is confused and its soul shows no signs of corruption," the shorter shadow said in a female voice, "it may prove useful"

And Done! Sorry this took so long, I've had other priorities lately and haven't been feeling really motivated. I think this came out ok though. Leave a review if you feel like it and thanks for reading!

Hunter: wait, I want to say som-

NOPE!


	5. Chapter 5

Journey of the soul chapter 5

New chapter! I'm excited!

Hunter: why? You know what's going to happen.

I can still be excited can't I? I don't own fossil fighters either. Enjoy!

Many people wonder how a fossil fighter prepares for the day. Do they train themselves for the rigorous tasks ahead of them? Do they map out which dig sites have the fossils they desire? For Hunter Cloud, amateur fossil fighter, the day starts with an angry vivosaur yelling at you to "get off your lazy behind and get out of that bed".

Hunter rolled himself onto the floor, clearly not excited about today. Today was the day for level up battles. He would need to win a fight against the level 1 master to advance to level 2 and have access to the next dig site. A fight that he didn't think he was going to win.

"Relax, you've got all day to train. You also took down a famous thief" while Spinax's words were encouraging, Hunter couldn't shake the sinking feeling in his stomach. As he got dressed, Hunter looked at the information on his vivowatch. Spinax was rank 3 with 104 health. V-raptor was rank 2 with 78 health, goyle was rank 2 as well with 86 health. Would it be enough?

"Please, I could take down this so called level master with a muzzle on my mouth."

"You being conceited isn't helping," Hunter left the hotel and pulled out his map of vivosaur island. The guild area has a store. He was low on food so he should go there first. The level up battle can wait.

"You're procrastinating," Spinax growled.

"I'm staying alive," Hunter replied, "You can complain when you have to eat." Glad that the argument was over, Hunter walked through the gates to the guild area. The store was relatively large with an assortment of not only everyday items, but different kinds of gear for fossil fighters too. Hunter had to drag himself away from the new portable VMM.

As he checked out his food (which was mainly ramen noodles), Hunter couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him. Even as he returned to his hotel room, Hunter kept looking over his shoulder. When he left the hotel, Hunter had his pickax strapped to his back so whoever was watching him would back off.

"Paranoid are we?" Spinax mused, "watch out, might be the cops here to drag you off to jail."

"First off, don't joke about that," Hunter kept walking while looking over his shoulder, "second, if I did get caught, they would throw me in an insane asylum."

"Seriously, what did you do?" Hunter didn't answer. Instead, he turned his head forward and had enough time to yell before he collided with someone.

"Ouch!" Hunter fell onto the the ground. He looked up at the person staring at him. They were wearing a brown cloak that covered their face. Hunter could see shining eyes through the shadow of the hood.

Needless to say, he was a bit intimidated.

"Sorry about that," Hunter pulled himself up, "my bad."

"What do you think your name is?" The voice sounded confusing, but the words it spoke were even more so. What did he think his name is?

"Well, my name is Hunter, but why-"

"Hmm…interesting," the cloaked figure walked off without another word. Weird.

"I'll say" Spinax mused, "what's that guys problem?"

"No idea," Hunter scratched the back of his neck, "maybe they confused me for so-" Hunter's eyes grew wide as his hand felt the back of his neck. Just the back of his neck, and not his raptor claw pendant.

"No,nonononononono!" Hunter frantically charged after the hooded figure.

"What's the big deal?" Spinax yawned, "it's just a pendant, you can get another one."

"One that's from my parents?

"…run faster,"

"Glad we're on the same page."

Hunter dashed towards the person in the cloak, but all his efforts were in vain when he heard the megaphone ring out.

"All fossil fighters boarding the 11:00 boat, please report to the dock." Hunter was pushed around by the ensuing crowd, but he saw the person in the cloak walk up to the fossil stadium and stand at the gateway.

"Maybe you just left it at the hotel. Maybe that guy didn't pick it up if it fell of when you collided. Maybe it's in the lost and found right now." Spinax's theories were gone with the wind when the cloaked figure turned towards Hunter and held its hand up. In the hand was Hunter's pendant.

Hunter couldn't see, but he could swear that the guy was smirking.

"Scratch that, he's dead meat." Hunter mimicked Spinax's roar in his mind as he shoved past the other fighters. He saw the hooded figure walk into the fossil stadium. Big mistake, nowhere left to run. But as Hunter burst through the doors, the thief was nowhere to be found.

After about a minute of sliding across the floor, Hunter searches the studios for any trace of his enemy. Nothing, it was as if they had just disappeared.

"Maybe Tiffany knows something." Spinax said. Hunter agreed and made his way over to the counter.

"Hello there Hunter, here for your level up battle? Your in luck. The level one master just finished a fight and is ready now." Hunter realized that Spinax had tricked him.

"The thief could be in the stands," Spinax's efforts to calm him down were useless, "besides, we'll need to be strong enough if that guy was a fossil fighter."

"Yeah sure, that's why you made me do this, let's just get it over with." Hunter walked down the familiar hallway, but all of his past fear was gone. He had to get his pendant back, and nothing was going to slow him down. Even the level master who was…Wendy. The freaking receptionist.

"Many know me as Wendy, the smiling receptionist of the fossil center. But, today I am-"

"The level one master and my opponent?" Hunter finished for her. She nodded. The doors to the stadium slid open, revealing the roaring arena behind it. Hunter took his position and didn't even bother to listen to the announcers, he was busy looking up the command for Spinax's cyclone.

"220 fp? What a ripoff," Hunter muttered as he selected his vivosaurs from the holder.

"All right team, let's do this!" The vivosaurs roared as the appeared one by one. Spinax in particular seemed very loud.

"Excited, are we?" Hunter mused

"Better than moping about losing," Spinax shot back. Hunter couldn't hear his own comeback due to the cascade of roars from the other side of the arena. Wendy's vivosaur team consisted of Goyo, v-raptor, and an odd looking pink vivosaur. (Cross: I think this was her team, just going off memory here.) Hunter looked up the vivosaur on his vivowatch. It was a ShanShan, relative of t-Rex.

…as in, Tyrannosaurus rex?

"Pff, big deal. The snob has a rich uncle." Spinax rumbled, clearly annoyed.

Hunter's eyebrows flew up, "what crawled up your tail and died?"

"You may not speak vivosaur, but I can, and I'm not going to repeat what pinky over there is saying about me,"

"That bad?"

"Worse."

This was even more prevalent when the battle began and ShanShan launched itself in the air and drop-kicked Spinax.

"Well, wasn't expecting that." Hunter mused.

Spinax growled in agreement, "and he wasn't expecting this!" The Titan grabbed the smaller vivosaur's tail in his mouth and threw it towards the opposing v-raptor. The little creature avoided the tumbling tyrannosaur and charged at Hunter's v-raptor. The two locked claws and traded shots of venom. Goyo attacked with rock head and slammed into goyle. The ankylosaur swung its tail around furiously, but made no contact. Support effects transferred from goyle to Spinax just as ShanShan charged toward it. Spinax side stepped out of the way and smacked ShanShan with his tail, pushing the vivosaur into the wall. Instead of colliding however, shanshan used the wall to vault itself in the air again and kick Spinax in the face.

"THAT LITTLE SONUVA-"

"PG!" Hunter yelled at Spinax, "calm down, we need to focus."

"I'll focus. Focus on ripping that runt's head off."

"Well someone's grumpy, wasn't this your idea anyway?"

"Hey, is that your pendant dangling on shanshan's mouth?"

"WHAT?! HOW DARE THAT MISERABLE LIZARD! SPINAX COMBO!" Hunter said the last part. Hunter cursed himself for being tricked twice in one day by the same guy while Spinax unleashed prehistoric chaos on the smaller theropod. Not even being targeted by both the Goyo and the v-raptor wiped off the smug grin on Spinax's face. Hunter's own v-raptor joined in the fray while goyle, who had received quite a bit of damage, Began transferring support boosts to both its teammates. Shanshan had returned to its Dino medal, so the team had newfound confidence. Hunter's v-raptor climbed on top of Spinax and slashed at the other raptor and Goyo when they attempted to jump on the much larger threat. Spinax himself was charging teeth first into the smaller vivosaurs. Goyle grunted at Hunter, They were going to win. Hunter nodded, not needing a translator for goyle's message. They were ready for anything the opposition could think of. Or so they thought.

The opposing velociraptor looked towards Goyo, then suddenly, both rushed straight at goyle. Hunter watched with pure shock as the v-raptor lifted goyle up by slashing furiously, and Goyo slammed its head into the soft, exposed underbelly. A vacant expression filled The ankylosaur's eyes as it disappeared.

Hunter, Spinax, and v-raptor all roared with fury. Suddenly, goyle's returned Dino medal began to glow an emerald green. Spinax and v-raptor began glowing as well.

"Vivosaur synergy achieved," Hunter's vivowatch beeped, "team skill available."

"Team skill? What's that mean?" Hunter queried.

"Sounds Like an attack,"

Spinax replied, grunting with pain after being assaulted by Goyo and v-raptor, "worth a shot."

Sure enough, one new skill each appeared under Spinax and v-raptor's attack lists: toxic cyclone and cyclonic breath… he immediately selected spinax's option.

"CYCLONIC BREATH!" Hunter's yell was mimicked by Spinax's roar. The tyrant inhaled what looked like half the ozone layer, and shot a…laser…out of his mouth. A green laser…huh.

Needless to say, Goyo and v-raptor were disintegrated in glorious green fire. (Cross: insert evil laughter here) Hunter stared at Spinax, who was staring at his mouth.

The vivosaur finally spoke…sort of, "I burh meh houng," he said in an odd accent.

"Come again? You sound like you burnt your tongue."

"I bid bruh meh fongue," Spinax replied.

"Seriously partner, stop talking like…oh,"

Hunter collected his new fighters license from the counter: Hunter Cloud, level 2 fighter. It has a nice ring to it but he could do without the two, master fighter was more his speed.

"And you lecture me about being conceited," The only thing that could make this better is if Spinax's tongue hadn't healed yet. Well, that and-

"Oh Hunter?" Tiffany stopped him on his way out, "this was in the lost and found, is it yours?" She handed him something very familiar. It was his pendant!

"Thank you!" Hunter smiled all the way to the door where he ran into… Rosie.

"Oh, hi Hunter!" She smiled as Hunter sighed. Here we go, "how'd you do on the level up battle?"

Hunter smiled with pride and showed his fighters license, "see for yourself."

"Nice! I haven't battled yet, but before I do, there's someone you should meet." Rosie stepped to the side and an older man walked in. Everything about him was finely trimmed from his blue suit to his beard.

"This is my grandfather, head of the Richmond foundation!" Rosie puffed up with pride.

Hunter couldn't help but stammer, "you mean t-to tell me that your grandfather is the owner of the island?"

"Indeed I am, young man," Mr. Richmond extended a hand which Hunter promptly shook, "I want to thank you for helping dear Rosetta get her medals back." Rosetta? Hunter saw Rosie's embarrassed look and refrained from laughing.

"It was no problem sir. I'm sure anyone would do the same."

Mr. Richmond chuckled, "your optimism is admirable young man. Hunter, correct?" Hunter nodded, "Well then , if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call on me." And with that, Mr. Richmond and Rosie left with a wave. Hunter walked towards his hotel room. Whistling and listening to Spinax complain. He was in such a good mood he didn't notice the cloaked figure watching him from the shadows.

Long story short, my phone, which I use to upload chapters, had to go through an update that lasted an entire day. Sorry for the hold up to the 4 people that read my stuff (you know who you are).

Hunter: I feel like you just wanted to leave a bunch of open ended cliffhangers…

Yep, that's kind of how it works. Thanks for reading and leave a review if you feel like it!


	6. Chapter 6

Journey of the soul chapter 6

6?! I'm already at chapter 6? That's…actually pretty cool (this chapter may be rated T for later reasons. You have been warned)

Hunter: For you maybe. I've had to go through some messed up stuff.

Ah yes, fairy princess over here lost her necklace. How traumatizing

Hunter: you little-

I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

The creature reared forward, its massive jaws full of fangs the size of swords. The thundering roar had enough force to level a mountain. The crystal hide of the tyrant shone in the moonlight. Tornadoes erupted around it. Another creature flew beside it. Its wings resembling those of a butterfly, but much sharper. This monster was smaller and lean, it looked very agile and ready to fight. The larger beast roared one last time, and that's when a voice rang out. A cold, cruel laughter.

"This is your end," it said.

Hunter Cloud hollered as he fell out his bed, grabbing on to his blankets. The sheets flew over him as his head thudded against the floor. What kind of dream was that?

"I told you not to eat that entire pizza, now you have dream disorder," Hunter now has a mental image of Spinax shaking his head.

"Dream disorders aren't a thing." Hunter replied.

"Then what was that?" Spinax shot back.

"That was…" Hunter paused, he didn't now what happened himself. He usually doesn't have dreams at all.

"You know what would help with your disorder?" Spinax chimed in.

"I don't have a disorder!"

"Chill out, what crawled up your tail and died? I was going to suggest going to that new dig site." Spinax was right, they had unlocked a new dig site: knotwood forest. An ancient forest that was said to be around since prehistory. Hunter thought about what kind of vivosaurs he could find.

"Worth a shot," he said.

"Then why are you still on the floor with a blanket over your head?" Spinax roared with excitement, "the day is young and you haven't gone senile yet!"

As Hunter dressed himself into his regular attire, he wondered as to why Spinax talked about him going senile.

"You do tend to go crazy at the end of the day."

"Name one time."

"When you wagered your career in a one on one fight with a vivosaur thief that the POLICE couldn't catch."

"That doesn't count," Hunter sulked out of his room. The sun shone brightly on vivosaur island, a perfect summer day. Nothing was going to go wrong.

"Crap, you jinxed it," Spinax moaned.

"I don't believe in that stuff," Hunter replied cheerily, "It's all just superstition anyway." Hunter checked his watch: 9:12. He would have to wait a bit, whatever, it was early anyway.

"Maybe we should check out that shop in the guild," Spinax suggested. Yesterday while buying food, Hunter saw a shop specifically for fossil fighters. They sold sonar upgrades, stronger digging and cleaning tools, and even fossil rocks themselves. Hunter would rather go out and find the fossils himself, but a new vivosaur is always hard to turn down.

"Sounds like a plan," Hunter made his way towards the guild area, passing by a large crowd of tourists. When he entered the guild's massive shopping area (Cross: I know this isn't in the game…and I don't care. It's my story!) Hunter realized that in his excitement, he had forgotten to bring his map. He wandered through the endless hallways of stuff, to stubborn to ask for directions. Left, right, right, left, it didn't matter which way he turned, he still didn't know where he was.

"It would appear to me that you are lost," Spinax spoke in a matter of fact voice, "perhaps it would have been wise to bring a map."

"Thank you, o' wise one," Hunter snapped, "any other divine advice you'd like to share today?"

"Yeah, turn left," Hunter did so and he found the shop. Ignoring the howling laughter from Spinax, Hunter purchased a larger fossil case and a new fossil rock.

Hunter slid the fossil into his backpack and was on his way. When Hunter finally found his way out, he checked his watch: 12:25. He was lost in the store… for three hours…

"You knew where the shop was the entire time, didn't you." Hunter tapped his foot as Spinax laughed.

"It's your fault for jinxing today." Spinax replied.

"I didn't jinx it, that's not even real"

"Prove it, if nothing bad happens to you at the dig site, then I will shut my mouth whenever you want me to for a month." Hunter considered spinax's request. It was definitely tempting.

"And if something bad does happen to me?"

"You have to admit that you jinxed today AND, You can't slam me into walls anymore."

"Deal, you better be prepared to keep your mouth shut." What spinax's snarky reply was, Hunter didn't hear because a loud voice blasted on the intercom.

"All fossil fighters boarding the 12:30 boat please report to the docks." Hunter dashed towards the docks and promptly got in line to Board the ship.

Knotwood forest was further into vivosaur island, so hunter had to walk through a dense jungle to get there. He made sure to duck every time he pushed a branch back and watch where he was stepping, just in case.

"Precautious are we," Spinax mused.

"The only thing worse than being stuck in a jungle," Hunter replied, "would be being stuck in a jungle with a certain vivosaur who just won a bet."

"Fair enough," spinax replies, "by the way, your walking in circles. Take a left and you would've been there fifteen minutes ago. I let that slide as not bad luck, but just you being you," Hunter sulked into a clearing. The dig site seemed to be a looping pathway that led through the forest, interesting.

Hunter through down his pickax a few times and uncovered some fossils. He had just finished unearthing a sparkly fossil when a fossil fighter literally JUMPED out of the hole he dug.

"No way!" She exclaimed, "I've been looking for that fossil all day!"

"She's been in the ground all day?" Spinax snorted, "watch out Hunter, we've got a certified caveman over here." Hunter couldn't help but laugh.

"Think I'm funny do you?!" The girl's helmet was lopsided and Hunter could swear he saw steam rising from her head, "how about we battle for it! Winner gets to keep the-" Hunter had already left.

Later that day, Hunter was sitting on a stump in the dig site looking at the fossil rock in question. It was indeed sparkly and he could see a glint of something shining under the layers of rock. It was also considerably lighter than most of the fossils Hunter had come across. He slid the fossil back into his backpack.

"Why didn't you fight her?" Spinax questioned, I could use the exercise."

"Did you see where we were?" Hunter shot back, "we're stuck in this small clearing, there wouldn't be enough room for a fossil battle." Hunter looked over at an attendant standing by a wooden gate. The fossil center employee had told Hunter that the area was off limits due to trouble in the digadigamid (whatever that was) and that you could only pass if you had a permit from .

Hunter didn't mind the enclosed space, there were plenty of fossils and he was glad just to be here. Unfortunately, not everyone shared his optimism.

"What do you mean I can't pass!" Hunter sighed as he walked towards the familiar, shrill yell. It seems that Rosie Richmond was just told she couldn't pass.

"Hunter! You've got to hear this guy. He says we can't pass because it's to dangerous!" Rosie put her hands on her hips, "what's so dangerous about it? Adventure? Treasure? Oh, now I really want to know!"

"Rosie," Hunter tried to calm her down, "that area is off limits because dr. Diggins says so, we should leave it be."

It was obvious that Rosie had stopped listening, "Your right! We should go see Dr. Diggins! He'll clear this up. C'mon!" Bad memories resurfaced as once again, Rosie grabbed Hunter's wrist and began dragging him.

"Bad memories you say?" Spinax chimed in, "Well this is certainly BAD for you. You are in such a BAD situation."

"It's only bad for me if I decide it is," Hunter shot back, "this is an inconvenience at most." Still, his cheek was starting to hurt dragging across the ground like that.

When they got back to the docks, Rosie let Hunter walk on his own (thank the revival machine) and the two made their way to dr. Diggins' office. The automatic doors to the office in the fossil center loomed over Hunter like an enemy vivosaur. Hunter boldly stepped through first. He had did it! He made it to where he wanted to go in the fossil center without sliding on the floor! Hunter swelled with pride…until he had tripped over a stack of papers.

"Well that was certainly bad," Hunter pulled out Spinax's Dino medal and dropped the stack of papers on top of it.

"Mwey! Mwath wa mwek!" Ahh, sweet silence. Rosie popped her head through the doors.

"Wow! What a wreck!" She was right, the office was covered with papers, dinosaur bones, computers, and various drills and hammers. There was barely anywhere to stand. As Rosie helped Hunter up, Dr. Diggins seemed to have realized he had guests.

"Well if it isn't ms. Richmond and Hunter! What a nice surprise!" Diggins gave Hunter a pat on the back, "Nice work with the medal thief young man! Mr. Richmond told me all about it."

"Dr. Diggins," Rosie interjected, "we've got a problem, most of knotwood forest is blocked off and we need clearance to get through!"

"Knotwood forest? Ah yes, the digadig tribe was having trouble with their pyramid so I sent a fighter to check it out."

"Digadig tribe?" Hunter questioned.

"Their an ancient group of people who lives on vivosaur island before we got here," Diggins explained, "they were having trouble at the digadigamid so I sent an esteemed fossil fighter to help," Diggins scratched his head, "come to think of it, I haven't heard from that fighter in a while."

"In that case." Rosie saw the opportunity and seized it, "you should send us to go check on that fighter!"

"I don't know about that, I'm busy enough as it is. Having two kids in an ancient pyramid to worry about would be too much," Diggins moved back to where he was working, "maybe I need a break, or at least a snack." Hunter signaled to Rosie that the conversation was over, and the two left the room.

"Did you have to bury me alive?!" Spinax moaned.

"Keep complaining and I will bury you." Hunter threatened. Rosie had begun dragging him towards the Richmond building. She thought her grandfather could help them out. Hunter didn't think that Mr. Richmond could be much help, but the part of his brain that was screaming for more fossil battles was desperate at this point. The guard stood in front of Hunter as he tried to enter the building.

"He's with me." Rosie said nonchalantly.

"Oh, with you?" The guard began to positively beam at Rosie, "That's great to hear! We were so worried you wouldn't find a boy your age on this island miss Rosetta!" Hunter knew what the guard was implying and didn't like it. He was 13 for crying out loud!

"14," spinax corrected, " yesterday we had that whole pendant fiasco so I didn't bring it up and forgot, happy birthday!" Hunter scratched his head. His birthday was yesterday and he completely forgot. He was about to ask how spinax knew, but he remembered about the whole memory seeing thing.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!" Rosie had practically exploded. Her arms flew to her sides and smacked Hunter in the face. The guard replied by laughing which only made Rosie angrier. She grabbed Hunter's wrist and dragged him up the steps.

The Richmond building was a series of walkways and doors. It would have been the shopping incident all over again if Rosie didn't know her way around. Mr. Richmond's office was on the left side of the building.

"Well this is a surprise." Mr. Richmond chuckled in a way that reminded Hunter of Santa Claus, "what can I do for you two?"

"Grandad, Dr. Diggins says that the blocked off part of knotwood forest is too dangerous, but we can handle it! Is there anything you know about that can help us persuade him?"

"Well, That is quite the predicament,"mr. Richmond rested a hand on his chin, "I do recall dr. Diggins having a weakness for sweats, but…"

"Great! Thanks grandpa!" Rosie turned towards the the door but mr. Richmond spoke again.

"Are you sure you'll be safe?"

"Of course!" Rosie put her hands on her hips, "I can handle anything!" Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Very well,"

Mr. Richmond sighed as Rosie left, but he stopped Hunter before he could follow.

"Please look after my granddaughter, she's a little headstrong and impulsive," Hunter nodded.

"Not to worry sir, I'll make sure she has all her limbs by the end of the day."

When Hunter left the office, Rosie was waiting, impatiently tapping her foot.

"C'mon! I gotta get something from my room." Hunter followed her into a very pink room with various plushies on the floor. Rosie moved into the large walk in closet and shut the door.

"You can sit and wait until I find what I'm looking for," she said through the wall, "make your self at home." Hunter sat down on a bean bag chair and reclined himself back.

"Ouch!" Hunter's head collided with a dresser drawer and a photo frame fell down on him. It was Rosie's birth certificate. Why was it framed?

"That's strange. But hey, it says here that Rosie's thirteen so your not being a pedophile." Spinax hadn't pushed Hunter's buttons, he had smashed the controls with a hammer. For his troubles spinax had earned himself a nice spot under the plushie.

Hunter placed the frame back on the shelf without looking, but in the process knocked something else on his face.

"Bwuh?!" The thing that fell on him was soft and oddly shaped.

"Bwuh!" Spinax's dino medal slid across the floor," Thank the- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"I don't know! What's on my face!" Hunter replied.

"…see for yourself." Hunter got over his initial shock and slowly pulled off whatever was on his face…it was one of Rosie's bras…

"WHAA!" Hunter hollered as he threw the bra into the air. It landed on the dresser just as Rosie burst in carrying a package.

"What's wrong? Why where you yelling?"

"Oh, I uh…" Hunter quickly grabbed his foot, "I stubbed my toe on the floor and fell back down." Rosie gave him a searching glance, then shifted her gaze to the package in her hands.

"What's that?" Hunter asked.

Rosie gave an evil grin, "these are our ticket to knotwood forest,"

"Your friends are weird," spinax remarked.

"Your one of my friends," Hunter replied.

Done! Sorry for the delay, had tests to take and family to visit. Before I sign off though, I have a question. I want this story to be what the people like. So, to the four people that read my stuff, should I keep adding in my own ideas and side-stories (ie: Hunter's past or the hooded figures) or should I keep things like the game entails? Leave a review about it if you feel like it!

Hunter: what hooded figures?

…you'll have to excuse him, he hasn't read chapter 5 yet.


	7. Chapter 7

Journey of the sued chapter 7

If your confused about the title, don't be. It'll become clear soon enough. And if your still confused

Hunter: WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE REVIVAL MACHINE IS A SUED?!

Then you aren't alone. I don't own fossil fighters or any other company! Enjoy!

"C'mon Hunter!" Rosie called, "we've got to get to Dr. Diggins asap!" Hunter took his time as he walked down the steps of the Richmond building. He sighed, this wasn't going to work.

After their attempt to get the doctor to give them clearance to knotwood forest failed, Rosie went straight to her grandfather. said that Diggins had a weakness for sweets, so Rosie had grabbed a pack of "Dino cakes" to use as leverage(he didn't know what else to call it). There was no way that a certified scientist would give in, but spinax seemed to share Rosie's enthusiasm.

"C'mon man! Gotta go fast!" Spinax roared. Hunter stumbled and stopped.

"What did you just say?" Did he hear that right?

"Gotta go faster! faster! faster! faster! faster!" Spinax said this all very, well, fast.

"Are you feeling okay? You seem off." Hunter pulled spinax's dino medal out of his holder and stared at it.

"You darn right I'm fine! I'm the knight of the wind!"

"You mean vivosaur of the wind element but whatever." Hunter greeted a very impatient Rosie at the bottom of the stairs who responded by grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the fossil center.

"Seriously?" Hunter moaned, "I think I'm old enough to walk on my own."

"Well it's your fault for taking to long," Rosie replied curtly which caused spinax to burst out laughing.

"Well this is certainly BAD for you!" He roared in triumph.

"The bet was you would win only if something bad happens at the dig site," Hunter smirked, then winced , "this is torture on my cheek though."

"Don't worry buddy," spinax's voice sounded distant, yet nearby, "just open your heart and it'll be all right!"

"Are you sure your fine?" Hunter scratched the back of his head, "Your acting like your telling jokes that only a select crowd understand."

"Who knows?" Spinax replied, this time it sounded like he was flying through the air, "there's endless possibilities so we've all got to live and learn! I don't know about you, but I'm gonna reach for the stars!"

"I don't know, they look pretty far," Hunter replied, "and you sound pretty far away too". Spinax replied by saying "nice one!" Which only made Hunter more confused. When they reach the fossil center doors, Rosie decided that he was indeed old enough to walk on his own. He stepped through the doors, expecting to fall and slide. This time however, he tripped on the incline from the ground to the floor and rolled. Hunter crashed into the counter with a THUD.

"Rolling around at the speed of sound!" Spinax shouted with glee, "that was just too perfect!" Hunter lifted his visor up from his eyes to see Rosie standing over him.

"C'mon! No time for messing around!" She offered a hand and lifted him up.

"No time for guessin' follow my plan instead!" Spinax was singing now and didn't stop until hunter slammed his medal into the door way of diggins's office.

"And that's what I'm made of," Hunter said with a smirk.

"Good one! See? Your getting it!" If there was anything Hunter would never understand about his partner, then it would be his inside jokes.

Dr. Diggins sighed when he saw the two kids, "I already told you two, I can't give you clearance to knotwood forest. I'm busing enough with that missing fighter, I can't have two kids wandering around near an ancient pyramid to worry about to."

"Oh, we weren't going to ask about that," Rosie spoke in an innocent voice, but Hunter could see the mischievous glint in her eyes, "we were just looking for a place to eat these delicious Dino cakes!"

Diggins shot up from his chair and stared at the parcel in Rosie's hands with longing in his eyes, "D-d-did you say D-D-Dino cakes?" Rosie nodded and Hunter stared in amazement as diggins began drooling, "I've been craving sweets all day and the clerk at the shop told me they were all out!"

"Oh? Do you want these?" Rosie smiled innocently, but evilly at the same time, "Well I'm sure we can come to some arrangement. Oh hey! We were trying to get into knotwood forest! How about it?"

"Hmm, I don't know," sense seemed to be returning to , "it wouldn't be safe for-"

"Oh well!" Rosie cut him off, "I guess we'll just have to eat all of these our selves! Wanna split 'em Hunter?" Rosie opened the parcel and passed it to Hunter.

This was all it took to drive diggins off the edge, "Okay! You win! I'll give you the clearance card!" He threw a small card to Rosie. Hunter looked down at the package of small cupcakes shaped like dinosaurs. How could something so sweet be used in such an evil plan? Hunter looked up and was directly in front of him!

"GIVE ME THE DINO CAKES! THOSE SWEET SWEET DINO CAAAKES!" The doctor looked more like a dinosaur than the cupcakes could ever be. Hunter handed the box over and watched, dumbfounded, as an esteemed scientist tore through a package of cupcakes. He dragged Rosie out of the room as Diggins started to lick the box clean of any crumbs.

"Well that worked," Hunter said slowly.

"Was there ever any doubt? My plans always work!" Rosie puffed up with pride. Dr. Diggins peeked through the door.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this," he looked so goofy with crumbs in his hair that Hunter had to nod in agreement.

"It's a secret to everybody," spinax said a few minutes later as Hunter and Rosie sat on a bench waiting for the boat.

"Are you sure your fine?" Hunter was convinced that spinax had gone crazy.

"Hyeah! Hyet! Hup! Heyah!" Yep, crazy. His vivosaur was now talking in high pitched karate noises. Hunter stared at his new Dino medals. He decided to clean the fossils he had and got three new vivosaurs. A S-raptor, which in his opinion was way to big to be a raptor. A Venator, which Rosie screamed at because it "looked like a shark". And the vivosaur he got from the shop, a delta, which really should be called a raptor. Hunter discovered two things. The sparkling fossil from before turned out to be a diamond, which earned him a lot of money. The second was that spinax was still telling inside jokes because he said "it's dangerous to go alone, take this!" Every time Hunter got a new medal.

"So, what should we do once we get to knotwood forest?" Hunter asked Rosie.

"Isn't it obvious?" Rosie stood up and pointed at the sky, "we're going straight to that pyramid!" Hunter just stared. Wasn't that the reason they weren't allowed there in the first place? And she wants to go towards it? He tried to explain this, but the intercom calling over the 3:00 fighters drowned out his voice.

"Hmm," the attendant at the gate stared at Hunter's clearance card, "and you say gave this to you?" Hunter nodded and pointed at Diggins signature on the card.

"So we can go?" Rosie asked hopefully. She could hardly stand still.

"Well, everything seems to be in order, but I can't let you pass if you don't posses a certain level of maturity."

"Let me guess," Hunter crossed his arms, "fossil battle?"

The attendant produced two dino medals and nodded. Even after backing away there was barely enough space. Hunter called out his team.

"Spinax! S-raptor! Delta!" The small blue delta roared in excitement. The red, tiger like s-raptor grunted in anger. Spinax, however, had quite a few things to say.

"I don't like this. Five vivosaurs?"

"Why?" Hunter taunted, "I thought five is good. are you really that much of a stickler for even numbers?"

"Even numbers are fine, but two and the first fourteen are just horrible."

"Yeah, so are thirteen and three."

"Ten and eleven are pretty good though,"

"That's debatable. Seven is undoubtedly the best though."

"What! No way, Six is much better."

"Whatever," And with Hunter's last remark, the conversation ended.(Cross: extra credit to those who understood that. And for those who didn't, don't cause yourself "strife" over it. We've all got our heads in the "cloud" sometimes)

The attendant's vivosaurs were both theropod. One of them Hunter recognized as a Venator. The other was blue and looked similar to a t-rex. It had an odd scale pattern that looked like it had crystals as hide. Hunter's vivowatch told him that this vivosaur is an Alectro.

"Man that looks cool." He thought to himself.

"Yeah," spinax said, "should be interesting in a brawl."

"Bet it'll be a smash,"

"But not a melee, that would be broken." The battle began on that awkward note. Spinax and Venator butted heads and snapped at each other. Delta tried to move around alectro while it was distracted by S-raptor's jaws, but the blue tyrant began shooting oddly colored smoke clouds out of its mouth. Delta jumped out of the way but S-raptor charged through one and slapped alectro with its tail. Hunter's vivowatch began beeping. S-raptor has been poisoned by the smoke.

"S-fury!" Hunter called out an attack and his vivosaur complied by shooting a jet of flame at alectro. The flare made direct contact, but alectro seemed unfazed and responded by firing a water jet at S-raptor. The raptor was knocked over by the blow and had to be covered by delta while it recovered.

Meanwhile, spinax was having trouble keeping up with venator's attacks. The shark like vivosaur would kick up dirt and throw large boulders around. This would be enough to hurt any vivosaur, but spinax seemed to be especially injured.

"Type matchup!" Spinax had enough time to yell before venator grabbed his neck and drove the tyrant into the ground.

Of course! Why didn't he think of it before. S-raptor and spinax were at an elemental disadvantage.

"Cyclone on alectro!" Hunter called out. Spinax pulled himself up from the ground and knocked venator back. A whirlwind shot out of his mouth and struck alectro, sending the blue vivosaur flying. It disappeared in a flash of white. S-raptor roared at its new target and charged at venator. Flames leaked out of the raptor's mouth as he ran. The collision was swift and brutal. Hunter heard a faint crunching noise as venator fell to the ground. The "shark dinosaur", as rosie called it, was returned to its medal after a swift kick from delta

"Very good," the attendant nodded and moved away, revealing a gap in the fence, "You may pass." Hunter didn't wait for Rosie, he jumped over the fence and managed to land on his feet and not his face.

"Jump up superstar!" Spinax cheered as hunter shook his head. He just had to have the crazy vivosaur as the one that talks.

The rest of knotwood forest was a winding path that followed a river. Rosie wanted to head straight to the digadigamid, which they could see through the trees, but Hunter was more concerned with what was in the ground rather than on the ground. When he stopped by the river to fill his canteen, Rosie pushed him in.

"Bwah!" Hunter swallowed a mouthful of water and surfaces to see Rosie laughing at him.

"You should see the look on your face!" She said through fits of laughter.

"Har har har. Hilarious." Hunter rolled his eyes and looked out at the river. The current was weak at his position, but if he took a few steps forward there was a good chance of being swept away. On the shore line was just more trees and…a hooded figure.

"Seriously, what's this guy's problem?" Spinax said as Hunter stared into the shadow under the cloak, "is he a stalker or something?"

"I don't know," Hunter gasped as he saw the hooded figure open his hand to reveal…a velociraptor claw pendant. How did he?-

"Did anyone order roadkill?" Spinax asked in an accent as hunter charged through the water, determined to get back his pendant. How did that guy get it? Hunter had it with him not five seconds ago!

In his anger, hunter had forgotten that he was standing in the middle of a river.

"Son of a spinosaurus." The current forced Hunter under as he was carried downstream. That last thing he heard was Rosie shouting something and spinax saying, "don't assume your dreams are just fantasy. If you can imagine a world, believe in it and dive in."

"That's way to complicated for a joke about falling underwater," Hunter commented, "I'd rather keep things simple and clean." Spinax replied by laughing, which left Hunter's brain feeling confused and full of water.

Done! Story time, I had a draft of this chapter already done last Saturday, but mistakes were made and my copy of chapter six was pasted OVER that draft. Then again this chapter is probably going to get struck by copyright laws so

It may not even matter.

Hunter:…you left me to die in the middle of a river…

Yes I did and I'm not telling you what happens next.

Hunter: you are the worst

No I'm not, I'm Cross.


	8. Chapter 8

Journey of the soul chapter 8

Thanks to popular demand, I have decided to keep my own ideas in the story. I also would like to say that the rating of this story will be permanently increased to T, although younger viewers are welcome to read. You have been warned.

Hunter: by popular demand, he means one review

…anyway, I don't own fossil fighters, enjoy!

The earth has always been one of the universe's greatest mysteries. Why was this little blue orb floating in space chosen to be the one planet to sustain life? Is the human race the only intelligent life in the universe? If not, where is that intelligent life now? People ask these questions yet neglect to answer them. Humans have assumed that they are the only intelligent life and the most advanced life forms in the universe. That is, until they found the machine.

The revival machine has always been a delicate subject. How on earth could one scientist which such limited resources, create a machine that can reverse death? It was unheard of. Some people even believe that the technology was stolen. Well, it was, but probably not from who they were expecting…

Hunter cloud surfaced with a gasp, he had just been washed away In a river and barely made it back to shore. Hunter was soaked from his visor to his socks. He checked the gear in his backpack. The airtight zipper had kept his belongings dry, and his vivowatch and sonar seemed fine.

"Next time you want to chase a guy in a hood through a river," spinax gasped, "don't invite me,"

"Good to know you care so much about my wellbeing and are not self centered," Hunter replied mockingly. He pulled a small fan out of his backpack and began to dry himself. While he sat, Hunter cursed himself for letting that "stupid, sun deprived, rag wearer" take his pendant without him noticing. He was about to say something that would ruin his PG rating when he noticed a small black square wash up on shore. Curious, Hunter walked over and picked it up. It was sleek and black with…a screen. Was it a tablet of some sort? Hunter tapped the screen.

Suddenly the screen lit up with a flash of light. On the screen were three words: report log X.

"Whoever owned this things must have not been right in the head," spinax mused, "they used it for reporting logs."

"That's not what-forget it." Hunter tapped on the icon that said: report one.

xx day of the xx month

Specimen X appears to be completely functional. It shows no sign of mutations or side effects of the cross-breeding. It does , however, appear to have a keen interest in the creatures known as vivosaurs. We have decided to allow it free roam for now.

Report 2: xx day of the xx month

Specimen X has strayed from its intended path and moved to a remote island. It has also shown the ability to connect with vivosaurs. Perhaps it is due to their lineage. X has become a registered "fossil fighter" on the island. It appears to be an occupation that requires vivosaurs to engage in combat for entertainment. I myself see it as a waste of time, but specimen X has centered its existence around it.

Report three: xx day of the xx month

After a quick test, I have confirmed that specimen X has amnesia. This will prove problematic to project mother planet-

As soon as Hunter read these words. He got a splitting headache. It felt like he was being ripped in half!

"Hey! Are you all right?! What's-" spinax's words melded and blurred and soon were nothing but sounds. Noises, colors, nothing.

Hunter was standing in a small metal room. On the sides of the room were what looked like drill arms attached to the wall. He noticed he was also wearing different clothes. An odd dark blue jacket that left his chest exposed. Tight dark blue pants that extended up to the place we're his umbilical chord was cut (Cross: I'm not going to say belly button because that would ruin the atmosphere) and pointed shoes that were surprisingly comfortable.

"Any idea were we are?" No reply. Hunter looked down to see that he had no Dino medals.

"Begin testing," at the sound of the mechanical voice, the drill arms began moving. The ends of the drills opened to reveal twisted metal rods. Hunter could see electricity sparking out of the end.

"Sonuva," the pain was agonizing and endless. The drills shot electricity straight into his chest. Hunter screamed in pain, but he couldn't help but feel like he had been through this before. When the pain ceased and the drill arms pulled away, Hunter had a mark on the right of his chest. A mark in the shape of an X…

"Get a hold of yourself!" Hunter abruptly awoke to something shaking him wildly. Hunter opened his eyes to see spinax in vivosaur form holding on to him with his tail, swinging him back and forth. When spinax saw that his friend was awake, he slowly lowered them onto the ground.

"You okay? You fell over and started yelling." Hunter responded by falling to his knees and vomiting. After he recovered from that, Hunter immediately checked his chest. No mark, though his pendant was a little cold against his skin…

"HOW IN THE NAME OF THE REVIVAL MACHINE DID I GET THIS BACK?!" Spinax turned back into a medal.

"The world works in strange ways, I believe it is all happening for a reason. Some invisible force if you will. Something that surrounds us, penetr-"

"We're not trying to get sued anymore," Hunter reminded him as he clicked the Dino medal back into its slot. At least spinax listened when Hunter explained what he saw. He looked around, the digadigamid was towering over the shroud of trees that blocked what was directly ahead. Shuffling through the trees, hunter made his way into a large clearing with teepee huts surrounding him. People walking around in hunched positions all stared at him. They were wearing clothes comparable to beetle skin and the funniest looking masks he had ever seen.

"It is the boy who bears the crown that the pink one has spoke of digadig," It took a moment for Hunter to realize that the people were speaking about him, "we shouldiga take him to the chief digadig." Hunter snorted at the speech pattern of these odd natives, but his amusement ceased when two of them snuck up from behind and grabbed his arms.

"Hey! What the heck!" Hunter tried to grab his pickax, but to no avail.

"We insist that you see our chieftain digadig," they said in unison, "he has important matters to diga-discuss with you."

"Yes," others said as he was dragged along, "the pink one who claims to know you is there as well digadig," Rosie? Well if Rosie was there then he really shouldn't be worried. There was no way these people were going to eat him if they hadn't already eaten her.

"You've been watching too many movies," spinax chimed in. Whatever. The natives stopped at the largest hut in This supposed village.

"Chieftain diga," said one native, "we have brought the one who bears the crown digadig." A small man in a red robe and with grey face paint hobbled out of the hut. He had a flat face that looked like it was carved out of stone. Rosie walked out after.

"Hunter!" It was a good thing that the natives had let go because they would have been knocked to the ground with Hunter when Rosie punched him in the face.

"Walking into a river! Are you crazy or just an idiot!"

"I may be crazy, every thing is spinning," Hunter wobbled as he stood up. Rosie must have forgiven him because one second later she pulled him into a tight hug.

"Don't scare me like that again, you hear me?" Hunter, who had never even so much as touched a girl before, now was desperately trying to stop blushing.

"Got yourself a crush have you?" Spinax said in a snarky voice, "my little boy's all grown up!"

"Shut your mouth, no I don't have a crush on her."

"Whatever you say turtle dove," spinax laughed. Rosie let go and Hunter could see she was blushing slightly. He made an internal screaming noise to drown out whatever snide remark spinax said. The chieftain cleared his throat.

"Welcome young fossil fighters digadig," he had a voice like gravel, "this is digadig village, we are in diga deep trouble and require your help digadig."

"What seems to be the problem?" Hunter slung his pickax across his shoulder, "does it involve digging?"

"You were correct pink one, the boy is diga derived from a hole in the groundigadig," before Hunter could inquire what the chieftain meant by that, Rosie cut him off.

"So what do you need us for?"

"We require you expertise in fossil battles digadig," the chieftain pointed to the digadigamid, "our temple is being raidediga by thieves."

"Is that all?" Hunter put his arms back to his neck in a relaxed gesture (cross: I don't know what it's called), "leave it to us then. Taking down thieves is my specialty."

"Yeah! We can handle anything!" Rosie puffed up with pride.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" The chieftain did an odd dance by shaking his hips back and forth, "my gratitudiga is as large as a t-rex with a full belly! Surely something must be done to repay you!"

"Payment?" Hunter could practically see Rosie's eyes turn into dollar signs, "what kind of payment?"

The chieftain responded by doing his odd little hip shaking dance again, "diga diga diga diga diga," Hunter saw a bright light coming down from the sky. Was that…a thunderbolt?!

"Take two steps to the right," spinax instructed. Hunter did so.

"Diga diga DOOOO!" It was a good thing Hunter moved, because when he did, the bolt of lightning came down and struck Rosie.

"Well, that was unexpected," Hunter slightly lifted one eyebrow, "You digadigs have odd ways of paying people."

"She has been blessed by the ancient digadig people, watch," the chieftain seemed rather proud of the crime scene he caused: a little girl unconscious and face first on the ground. Slowly, Rosie stood up.

"Hey!" Rosie looked more red than pink, "what's your digadeal?!" She paused at her words. Hunter knew what the "blessing" was immediately and couldn't help but roll over laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Rosie asked, "diga did something happen?" Rosie paused again, then she realized what Hunter was laughing about.

"It's not funny!" Hunter couldn't laugh anymore because Rosie had grabbed him by the shirt collar, "I don't want to say diga, but I keep diga doing it anyway. This can't be happening!" Hunter could see that Rosie was losing consciousness over the shock. He caught her just before she hit the ground.

"I'll help you with your pyramid problem if you help her come too," The chief agreed with Hunter's deal and he couldn't help but feel like he had just signed his death wish as the digadigamid loomed over him.

"This is a bad idea," spinax said, "fighting tomb raiders and finding an fossil fighter hand-picked by who couldn't handle the situation. I can't decide if your really brave or just dense."

"Thank you so much for reminding me of how low my sanity is," Hunter replied.

"I never said you were crazy," spinax shot back, "I know lots of people who are crazier than you."

"Said the talking dinosaur who can vomit tornadoes to the teenager who commands dinosaurs in battle as a job," Hunter shook his head, "and what other people do you know?"

"I meant that metaphorically, now let's go!" Hunter rolled his eyes at the last remark as he entered the gaping mouth of the digadigamid.

Hunter immediately knew that there were indeed raiders because one of them was standing in the first hall. He was an odd man with purple clothes and the kind of beanie you would wear in the snow even though it was the middle of summer.

"Who goes there?" The man turned towards hunter with more fear than aggression in his voice, "You'd b-b-better get lost kid."

"Lost? But you're the one who can't see where their going." Before the thief could utter another word, Hunter pulled the beanie over his eyes and kept on walking.

"We need to have a discussion about how you treat your elders," spinax said in a mock-serious voice, "this is becoming a major problem."

"Thanks mom," Hunter rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"Hey!" It seems the bandit had regained sight, "Your not going anywhere!" Hunter had no time to reply, he had to dodge out of the way of two charging vivosaurs. One Hunter recognized as a pachy. It was a common fossil in knotwood forest. The creature was small enough to fit in the corridors of the pyramid. It was a tawny color with grey on its underbelly and a large dome shaped head. The other vivosaur was similar to pachy, only it was red with blue markings. Hunter's vivowatch told him that this was called a stygi.

"Delta go!" Hunter wasn't able to call out his larger vivosaurs, much to his and spinax's dismay. Delta appeared with a roar and charged at pachy. It was in for a shock when stygi crashed into it from the side. Delta clamped it's teeth down on stygi's tail when it tried to back away and moved the vivosaur in front of a charging pachy. The two collided, but pachy kept going and knocked delta into a wall.

"Blitz attack!" Hunter called. A veil of water surrounded delta as it charged towards pachy. The water dispelled as pachy was knocked to the floor. The victory was short lived when stygi spat fire and delta had to move away, missing the chance to knock out pachy.

Pachy slowly rose to its feet and roared. Hunter prepared for the worst, but was surprised when pachy charged at a nearby wall.

"Confusion successful," his vivowatch beeped. Delta's blitz attack must have caused confusion!

"I'm confused so I'll run into a wall," spinax mocked, "that's not confusion, that's idiocy."

"Look at you using your big words!"

Hunter laughed, "I'm so proud of you!" Delta made a sound that sounded like a snort.

"What's up with him?" Hunter asked.

"You think I'm the only vivosaur that can read your thoughts?" Spinax's reply gave hunter an idea…and made home anxious. Exactly how much can delta see?

"Um…delta?" Hunter didn't know why he was doing this, "can you use a water attack on stygi and then lead it towards pachy?...please?" Not knowing how to talk to a vivosaur that couldn't talk back, Hunter had to be careful. This seemed to work though, as delta shot a stream of water at stygi. The attack missed, but the floor became wet and stygi slipped. The vivosaur struck the ground with a thud. Even in its confused state, pachy charged at the sound. Delta grabbed stygi and began spinning it around to gain momentum. Delta tossed the weakened stygi at pachy just as stygi began breathing fire. What happened next was even more confusing than delta's blitz attack.

Stygi's fire struck pachy head on and made the vivosaur disappear. Now with nothing to stop it, stygi soared to the other side of the pyramid and crashed into the wall, fading away as well.

"And that," Hunter said, grabbing delta's Dino medal, "is how you beat the odds."

"You need better one liners," spinax commented.

Done! Since the last time I asked a question worked out well-

Hunter: one review doesn't qualify

-I think I should ask other questions concerning the plot. So to go off of that: who do you guys think the love interest in the series should be?

Hunter: love interest? I thought this was an adventure game.

Spinax: don't worry turtle dove, you can have both!

YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!

Spinax: but I want to-

NOPE!


	9. Chapter 9

Journey of the soul chapter 9

Ah, Summer. The time of sunshine, sunburns, sunscreen, sunglasses, sun tans, and no school! (And also the time of bikinis)

Hunter: …you are sick

We've been over this, I'm cross. I don't own fossil fighters or any other company either, enjoy this chapter and summer! (I apologize to any female readers)

Hunter cloud was an odd kid growing up. He had a tendency to do strange, unexplainable things. His parents would receive numerous messages from the school board saying what Hunter had done. Whether it be dyeing his hair blue every Monday, or eating lunch on the school roof. No one said anything as he wasn't exactly putting himself or anyone else in danger, but he was the main subject of many conversations in the school. Hunter never grew out of this habit. In fact, right this minute he is doing something very peculiar: taking a nap in an ancient pyramid.

"Wake up fossil breath!" Yelled an impatient voice, "we've got work to do!"

Hunter opened his eyes and stood up with a yawn, "my breath isn't that bad."

"You haven't been the one smelling it for an hour, now let's go!" Spinax was as determined as ever, or maybe he just wants to get this over with. They promised the chieftain of the digadig tribe that they would clear the bandits in the digadigamid out. So far all they had done was move out a few of the bandits (breaking a few artifacts in the process).

"Hey look," spinax drew Hunter's attention directly ahead of him. He hadn't noticed before but now there were multiple piles of bones layers out before him, "looks a bit like a maze."

"Too easy." Even as Hunter smirked and pulled out his pickax, he couldn't help but feel anxious. This was too easy. wouldn't the people who built the temple want to guard it with more than just a maze?

Hunter soon found out that his hunch was correct as he brought his pickax down on a pile of bones that needed to be cleared. The bones themselves were hard as diamond. The force of Hunter's pickax bouncing off the surface was enough to move him back as well. It was a good thing that it did, because an arrow shot out of the wall and missed him by an inch. If he hadn't moved it would've gone through his head!

"Well…this could be problematic." Spinax mused.

"Ya think?!" Hunter yelled back. How convenient of the chieftain to not tell him about this! Now that he looked, Hunter could see arrow slits lining the entire hall. He would have to sprint to the other side to avoid being shot, but he couldn't do that without clearing away the bones.

"Perhaps a different approach is in order," spinax said in a prim and proper voice, "please, allow me to attempt to solve this predicament that you are in good sir."

"Be my guest," spinax's dino medal clicked out of its holder and began rolling down the hall. Hunter saw spinax's objective, a switch at the end of the hall that would probably dismantle the trap, but how was he going to hit the switch? Hunter watched as the Dino medal rolled under the arrow slots, weaving in and out of cracks in the bones that Hunter wouldn't have been able to squeeze his foot through. When spinax reached the end of the hallway, the medal fell flat on the floor.

"Okay, your turn," spinax said to Hunter.

"Hahaha. In case you haven't noticed, not all of us are an inch tall,"

"But of course good sir. Although, perhaps you should take a look at the path in front of you." Hunter then realized that spinax hadn't just made his way through, he had made a path by pushing the bones aside using the revival machine knows what (spinax was later say that it was willpower, but Hunter learned that spinax can use his wind attacks even in medal form). At any rate, if Hunter ducked he would be able to cross the hall.

"Nice going partner," keeping his head low, Hunter retraced spinax's route and was soon picking up his dino medal off the ground.

"Why thank you good sir," spinax retained the odd voice, "that'll be six hundred g if you please," Hunter replayed his friend by smashing his medal into the doorway, "learn to take a joke man."

"Quiet," Hunter whispered, "don't you hear that?" Spinax was about to point out that Hunter was the only person that could possibly hear him, but he was drowned out by an odd noise that sounded like…barking? The barking turned out to belong to a dog wearing the same uniform from the thief that Hunter had encountered earlier. The dog was also bipedal…for some reason.

As soon as Hunter tried to walk past, the dog began growling and barking its head off. Hunter growled back.

"I can't decide which one is the dog," spinax laughed, "he growls louder but you smell way worse." No reply from Hunter. Spinax was about to open his mouth again, only to realize why Hunter had froze. The dog was holding Dino medals.

"Spinax! s-raptor! delta!" There was enough room, so Hunter called out his entire team as the "dog" called out his. One of the dog's vivosaurs was a nodo. A small green ankylosaur that was similar to goyle. The other was a giant sloth.

"It's got a name but giant sloth is accurate," spinax remarked. Hunter's vivowatch beeped, the creature was known as a megath. Turns out it wasn't a sloth either, as it punched spinax in the nose before Hunter could even turn his head. S-raptor roared, most likely saving spinax's PG rating, and charged at megath. Nodo jumped in front of the raptor and the two collided. Hunter checked his vivosaur's health. Somehow s-raptor had taken more damage than nodo.

"No good, that thing's shell is hard as diamonds!" Spinax tried to clamp its teeth around nodo but to no avail. His fangs bounced off the shell. Delta circled megath until it was behind, then jumped up, claws at the ready. Megath spun on one foot and met claws with fist. Delta flipped in the air as it flew backwards from the blow. Spinax arched himself and stopped delta's decent by shooting out a gust of wind. The draft stop delta's fall, but not it's rage. Delta shot multiple jets of water at megath and nodo. Megath and nodo were both knocked over but no real damage was taken. S-raptor brought its foot down on nodo's underbelly. Surprisingly, this attack did a fair bit of damage.

"Piece of cake!" Spinax gloated as he slammed his tail down on nodo, defeating it.

"You jinxed it," Hunter sighed as megath jabbed spinax in the stomach.

"That reminds me," Hunter knew what spinax was going to say before he said it, "stuck in an ancient pyramid, fighting bandits, and getting attacked by traps! This is certainly BAD for you! I win the bet!" Spinax would have probably said more if megath hadn't punched him in the gut, causing an attack that hunter would dub: hurricane hurl.

"Seriously, what did you eat?!" Hunter watched as putrid green vomit splattered all over megath. He could practically see an oddly colored smoke rise from the vomit. S- raptor wasted no time to strike again, shooting a jet of flame at the sloth. The vomit was apparently flammable as well. Megath screamed as the fire consumed it before finally disappearing.

The dog let out one final frightened yell before running further into the digadigamid. Hunter, still confused about how a dog could fight with vivosaurs(or stand upright), followed it.

"Oh look, a doorway!" Spinax was overcome with joy, "it's nice to see it from a distance and not with my face pressed up against it!" Hunter looked at the side of the door longingly. Such bare brown. How he yearned to slam spinax's smug face into it. Right on that…tripwire trigger.

The hall began rumbling. Hunter looked up the stair way ahead of him. A large shadow began advancing down the stairs. He could hear each thundering crash as it moved down each step.

"Your kidding!" Spinax moaned, "I finally get the last word and now we're gonna die because of it?!"

"Not only that," Hunter turned around. He had just saw what was coming down the stairs, "we're gonna die in a really cliché way." Hunter sprinted away as the boulder crashed down the last step. (Cross: Sorry, I had to. /-bTpp8PQSog) Hunter didn't look behind him, but he could tell that the boulder was closing their gap. It also didn't help that he was going to die with a vivosaur screaming in his ear.

"No! I'm too pretty to die!" Spinax wailed. Hunter rolled his eyes and looked ahead. The hallway would lead back into the large room where he fought the dog, but Hunter would be crushed before he could get there. He reached for his pickax. If he couldn't get away, then he would clear the path.

"You're an idiot, don't do it," whether the voice in his head was spinax or his conscious was anyone's guess, but he didn't care. He is Hunter, hear him roar!

"Is that weird dream and that creep's reports still bugging you?!" Spinax was almost calm, "you aren't the guy they were talking about, you don't have to kill yourself to prove it."

"That…was actually pretty deep," Hunter slowed his pace, "but I've gone to far to turn back now." He stopped and turned to face the boulder, pickax in hand.

"Okay, who turned your anime dial up to eleven?" Spinax questioned, "were you playing that weird video game again?" Hunter drowned out spinax's words. He wouldn't let anything stand in his way. As the boulder closed in, Hunter found himself moving as well. With yell and new found strength, He brought his pickax down on the rock in one, swift motion.

"That's not how it works," spinax remarked. The boulder had stopped, but Hunter's pickax was now lodged into it.

"I…stopped it," Hunter stared in amazement, "holy revival machine."

"Don't get full of yourself yet," Spinax replied, "look." Hunter moved around the boulder and dislodged his pickax. It was the dog from earlier.

"Congratulations ,you are indeed Hunter," spinax laughed so hard Hunter couldn't hear the dog barking as it ran away, "hear him roar as he proves that he is stronger than an over weight dog!"

"I don't get it," Hunter scratched his head, "if it was just the dog, then why was the boulder moving so fast?"

"Stair momentum?" Spinax guessed. Hunter rolled his eyes. At least they didn't have to deal with the dog anymore. A few minutes later, Hunter was moving through another bone maze. No arrows this time, only snakes. Lots…and lots…of snakes.

"Today is really not our day," Spinax moped.

"Speak for yourself," Hunter, like any sane person would, put on his portable chef's hat, "I just found dinner!"

Spinax still refused to eat one of Hunter's snake kabobs (barbecued and served with fresh water. Courtesy of S-raptor and delta) even after they had walked through the digadigamid for another hour.

"I'm telling you, their a good source of protein!" Hunter argued as he shoved a snake tail into his mouth.

"Did you even remove the bones?" Spinax sounded like he was about to use hurricane hurl.

"Why would I do that? I like mine crunchy!" Hunter's persuasion ceases as he noticed what was in the room up ahead. There was a man standing there wearing the same uniform as the bandit from earlier. He had short blond hair and a nose longer than Hunter's pickax handle. Next to him was…the freaking dog…again.

"That's it!" Spinax declared, "I am now a cat person!"

"I'll get you a cat after we kick their butts," Hunter walked up behind the man.

"A kid huh?" He seemed to be able to understand the dog, "well, he won't get very far with me here." The thief had a laugh that was so annoying that Hunter wanted to grab his nose and yank it off.

"Can I do that?" Spinax asked hopefully.

"No!...not yet," Hunter tapped the man on the shoulder, "Excuse me. But if you are looking for a child, might I suggest looking in a mirror?"

"Huh?!" The man turned around and Hunter nearly threw up when he saw his droopy eyelids, "how did you get here?!" Hunter whipped out his dino medals

"Cut the chitchat. I prefer action."

"Heh, you asked for it kid!" The man pulled out two dino medals. The vivosaurs appeared in the air and fell to the ground. One Hunter recognized as a goyle. The other vivosaur made the ground shake when it landed. It looked similar to t-rex and even when Hunter called out his vivosaurs, it was taller than spinax! Hunter's vivowatch beeped. The creature was a carchar and it was an earth type, so Hunter's strongest vivosaur was at a disadvantage.

"Great, this is gonna be fun," spinax said sarcastically, "can I fight the little guy?" Hunter wasn't listening, he was busy shouting out commands and checking information. Carchar's roar was enough to blow delta of its feet. S-raptor shot a column of flame at the tyrant. Carchar opened his mouth wide. Goyle moved up to defend carchar, but was in for a surprise when the creature picked it up.

"Using his teammate as a shield?!" Spinax roared, "have you no soul?!" Goyle disappeared after that single attack. Carchar made an odd noise with its tongue.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU OVERGROWN SALAMANDER!" Spinax's shrieks clouded Hunter's thoughts. The noise was almost unbearable. Wait, was that just spinax, or his cellphone? Hunter flipped open his phone, it was a voice mail from the hotel manager.

"Hello hunter. I was calling to alert you that due to your staying agreement. We have a guest here that will share a room with you." The voicemail ended abruptly, but Hunter couldn't care less. He had more important things to deal with. Delta rushed towards carchar, shooting multiple jets of water and even some ice. The attack repelled off of carchar's skin as if nothing had happened. S-raptor was readying another fire attack and spinax was trying to get behind their massive enemy. The rage in spinax's eyes were clearly visible, but his barrage of tornadoes, bites, slashes, and stabs weren't doing a thing. Carchar whipped delta with its tail, sending the dromeosaur flying. S-raptor let out another flame burst. The fire crawled along the ground, edging towards its target. Carchar slowly turned towards spinax and the two butted heads. S-raptor's flame reached carchar, but it barely registered. Spinax continued to push back with gritted teeth.

"That's not going to work." Hunter sighed. Carchar hadn't moved its head at all. Spinax was slamming his head into it.

"When in doubt, use your head!" Spinax replied cheerily, "brain damage is an afterthought!"

"You might not have ANY thoughts if you do get brain damage."

"Don't lecture me on how to be safe. Didn't you try and stop a boulder with a metal stick earlier?"

"…this conversation is over."

"I wish this fight could be over." End the fight…that's it! Hunter asked spinax a quick but strange question about insults, then put his brilliant new plan into action.

"Hey long nose!" Hunter yelled. He retrieved his vivosaurs back into their medals, "in the one Your after right? I'll take you and your pet lizard on myself!"

"This is dumb, what are you doing, you said you had a plan!" Spinax sounded somewhat concerned. It was as if he actually cared about hunter.

"Yes I care, and dying would problematic for you so WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE REVIVAL MACHINE ARE YOU DOING!" Hunter ignored both spinax and long nose's criticisms of him. He turned to face carchar.

"And you! Think your tough?! Well I hate to break it to you, wide load, but you couldn't even lift your eyebrows!"

"He doesn't have eyebrows," spinax said. Either way, the insult seemed to work. Carchar was frothing at the mouth and stomping its feet.

"Don't look so mad. Your regular face is bad enough! I'd slap you but I don't want to make you look any better." It was like a fire went off. Hunter soon found himself running in circles and praying that the dinosaur next to him wouldn't be able to turn fast enough to rip his leg off. Even the thief and the dog had backed away.

"To slow you overgrown gecko!" Hunter ignored spinax's remarks ("salamander fits better") and continued, "try all you want! I could step in something smarter than you! It would smell better too!" The roar was deafening. Hunter fell over, clutching his bleeding ears. When he looked up, carchar was lunging toward him, mouth open. Rows of dagger teeth reflected his image. But a-raptor's dino medal was shinier.

"Scorch breath!" The Fire was blazing hot. On top of the fact that it shot up carchar's mouth, it was pretty effective. It looked as if a-raptor was emerging from carchar as it disappeared.

"And you didn't tell me the plan because…" spinax expected an answer. He never got one because the man returned with his stupid dog yet again.

"Well well Well. Your not bad kid," he sneered and rubbed his nose (Which took a bit of time, considering its length) , "But you'll never expect this next move!" He began backing away, "this is it!" Hunter retrieved s-raptor, "here it comes!" Hunter looked down. There was a large x painted on the floor, "almost there!" The man pressed a button on the wall and the x fell away to reveal a dark hole…in front of Hunter.

"Wow…you had one trap and you don't even use it right! You guys are-" What they were, they never found out. Hunter was shoved towards the hole and had enough time to look back at who had pushed. He couldn't see their face…because they were wearing a hood…

The digadigamid shook that day, and a single word rang out. Clear and concise.

"Seriously?!"

Done! I have a story about this part of the game. I was five when I first played fossil fighters (first video game I ever played!) and didn't know a lot about it. I couldn't read very well and skipped a bunch of the tutorials. So, imagine doing the carchar fight with just spinax and a Shanshan and only using spinax fang the entire fight! That's what I did cause' 1. I didn't know how the VMM worked and 2. I would just spam a to fight.

Hunter: I apologize to everyone. He had to get that off his chest

…anyway. Due to it being summer, I'll be doing a lot of stuff and may not update as frequently. Also, I have decided who the love interest is going to be but I won't tell you yet! Gotta keep it mysterious right?

Hunter: wait…that's the end?! Your just gonna leave me falling down a hole like that?!

Yep, leave a review if you feel like it!

Hunter: and send me luck! I'm gonna need it with psychoswords over here in charge.

…you just gave me a brilliant new idea for a nickname!


	10. Chapter 10

Journey of the soul chapter 10

Can't do the intro! To busy celebrating!

Hunter: (sigh) Cross just hit the 300 view mark for his story.

300 HECK YEAH!

Hunter:…I wonder what he'll do once he hits the 1000 mark…

I'll share your dark past

Hunter: really?!

NOPE! I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

(300!)

Dark. Very dark. Absolute darkness. Was he blind? Or was this just the lighting? Hunter rubbed his eyes. Nope, he wasn't blind, but he couldn't see very well. He saw a vague outline of the room and…something looming over him…

"Rawr!" Hunter did his best to turn his scream into a yell. He ended up sounding like a dinosaur. To his surprise. The…thing that was trying to attack him was laughing.

"That was just about the funniest thing I've heard all day," the voice that was laughing was clearly a woman. Hunter rubbed his eyes and his vision cleared. Standing over him was a woman who appeared to be in their twenties. They wore a white t-shirt and light blue pants, but the thing that startled him the most was her fiery red hair that ended in a ponytail. Realization hit Hunter like a train.

"Wait, are you the fighter that sent?" She nodded.

"Sure am. The name is Nevada. Nevada Montecarlo."

"Nice to meet ya. I'm-"

"My psychic abilities tell me that your name is Hunter and you're a level 2 fighter. Am I right?" Hunter just stood in shock. Nevada laughed, "just kidding! You dropped your license in the fall. Here." She handed him a small card. He couldn't see its details, but the picture on the front told him that this was indeed his fighter's license. Surprised that spinax hasn't made one idiotic or snarky comment, Hunter continued the conversation.

"So, any idea of a way out of here?" Nevada wobbled her hand in a "sort of" gesture.

"The BB bandits aren't the brightest bunch of crooks. There's a locked door that I'm pretty sure leads out. Only problem is, I don't have a key." So long nose and the dog are part of a group called the BB bandits, good to know. Hunter asked where the door was and Nevada showed him. It wasn't a door at all, it was the entire back wall! The keyhole was so wide that Hunter could fit his head in it. He could see the turning mechanism on the inside. It was old fashioned and he may be able to substitute his arm for the key. But if things went wrong, he would lose his arm and a good amount of self-esteem.

"Seriously?! No reply?" Spinax was either giving him the silent treatment or had lost his vocal cords in the fall. While either way it would be an improvement, Hunter would miss the commentary.

"Zzzzzzzz." Nope, The idiot had fallen asleep. Greeeeeeaaaaaaat. The last thing he needed right now was a sleeping vivosaur in a pyramid full of bandits.

Hunter turned to Nevada, "is there another way out?" She shook her head.

"Modern building regulations don't apply. One way in, one way out." Hunter stared at the hole in the ceiling. It was already sealed up, but a faint ring of light was visible around it. So, he was stuck in a hole with very little food and water. If he did get out, he'd have one less vivosaur to fight the bandits with. To top it all off, he was getting a roommate tomorrow! Could things get any worse.

"Never say that!" A familiar voice rang out, "something bad's gonna happen now! You jinxed us…again!" Hunter was pretty sure spinax waking up was the bad thing that happened. Wait…of course!

"Stand back!" Hunter pulled a dino medal off his holder, "Delta! Go!" The blue dromeosaur appeared in a flash of light. It stared at Hunter with sharp yellow eyes.

"Delta, this door refuses to open. Could you give it some (ahem) motivation?" Delta made a noise that was similar to an evil laugh. It faced the door/wall and began to charge.

"I don't know what you put in your sprite, but that's never gonna work," spinax muttered.

"Have a little faith," Hunter replied nonchalantly, "if delta's Head is half as thick as yours then it'll smash through the side of the pyramid." Before spinax could protest. Delta crashed into the wall. It didn't break, but Hunter heard a clicking noise that signifies that the door had unlocked. He didn't know why, but he felt a sudden rush of air behind him along with his excitement. Nevada laughed.

"Well. It's not what I expected, but that'll work," She was pointing behind hunter. He turned around and saw…a ladder, "let's get moving!" Hunter just stood there while Nevada climbed the ladder. The door opens…a ladder?!

"I'm just surprised you didn't get hit on the head," spinax mused. Hunter ignored him and began climbing the ladder. The hole at the top had opened up again and they were soon in the same hall they fell in the trap. No bandits in sight. No hooded jerks for him to punch in the face.

"Seriously, what did we do to make them hate us so much?" Spinax moaned, "it's not like you killed their friend or anything." Hunter was silent as they continued walking through the pyramid, "oh my revival machine you did, didn't you."

"It's…possible I guess," Hunter remained monotone. He clearly didn't want to talk about his past. Even spinax could take a hint. They remained silent and continued to follow Nevada. She seemed to know where she was going. They soon came to a square room with a large ammonite shell in the back. Three people had their backs to them and were conspiring.

"Did anyone stick their nose where it doesn't belong?" The woman in the middle asked. She had long greasy turquoise hair that made Hunter want to puke. As she continued to talk about the fate of "those who dare cross the BB bandits", Hunter realized that he wasn't the only one who wanted to puke.

"I feel a hurricane hurl coming." Spinax whispered, clearly trying to keep his mouth shut. Hunter shrugged and walked up to the bandits.

"No one's getting past our amazing trap!" Long nose laughed, "there's no way!" The stupid dog barked in agreement.

"Wanna bet?" Nevada And Hunter said in unison. All three turned around in shock. The woman in the middle was the first to recover.

"Well well Well. It seems that diggins sent a child to rescue his pet. How adorable is that?" Spinax didn't get it, but Hunter did and he didn't like what he heard.

"About as adorable as the fact that your friends over here couldn't keep a kid under lock and key for more than a few minutes." Hunter replied with a smirk.

"Perhaps you should fire the person who commands them." Nevada added, cracking a whip menacingly, "oh wait. That's you isn't it?" The woman scoffed.

"Well, since you came all this way, I suppose introductions are in order." She gestured towards the growling dog. Hunter growled back, "man's best friend here is rex. If you have any idea where he's from, please let me know," Hunter opened his mouth, perhaps to say where he thought rex came from, but the woman cut him off.

"The gent with the long nose is snivels, and that nose isn't just for show. He can smell better than rex." Snivels did a long, disgusting sniff.

"I can smell the kind of gum in your pocket…it's strawberry."

"I thought we had mint gum," Spinax asked, "how dare you deceive me!" Hunter sighed about the fact that spinax had taken the word of a criminal over his own. To prove his case, Hunter took out a piece of his MINT gum and tossed it in his mouth while the woman continued talking.

"And I'm the person stuck leading this sorry bunch. Name's Vivian, but you can call me "archenemy"."

"Cool, my name is Sora and I'm a master assassin," Hunter pulled out his pickax menacingly, "you went through the trouble of telling me your names so now I can file a more accurate police report," Nevada was holding down a laugh as the bandits eye's widened with shock. Spinax didn't even bother to hold it back, "since you helped me out, I'll let you pick who gets to go first." He slung his pickax over his shoulder and did a baseball swing, "anyone feelin' lucky?"

"Yes well," Hunter couldn't help but snicker at Vivian's expression, "you'll certainly have a lot of time to dig with that pickax after we trap you in here!" Hunter saw it coming from a mile away. Even as the BB bandits ran past and an in visible wall appeared out of nowhere, he was so used to traps at this point he didn't care any more. Vivian said something about him being a fossil himself soon, he didn't care. Hunter was going to be completely calm.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Five minutes later, Hunter was bouncing off the walls. While Nevada was trying to decipher an ancient message, he was hack and slashing every inch of the room with his pickax. Hunter thought about all the crap he's been through. Thieves, traps, a literal rolling stone, stupid dogs, snarky vivosaurs, and worst of all, idiots who won't take their hoods off and face him like a man. Hunter drove his pickax between two piles of bones, imagining a laser trigger because he was probably losing his marbles at this point.

Spinax said nothing. He didn't say that Hunter needed to calm down. He didn't say that they would find a way out. He didn't say that he had already figured out the code Nevada was trying to decipher. He didn't say the the code said to dig between to piles of bones. He didn't say that there would be a passage leading back to the entrance. What he did say was, "took you long enough,"

For the second time today, a voice rang out in the digadigamid, "SHUUUUT UUUUUP!" Hunter was falling fast. Falling falling falling, THUMP. With a rather rough landing, Hunter got up and rubbed his sore butt.

"I hate you," Hunter said as soon as he got his thinking straight.

"Love you too pal," spinax replied nonchalantly, "now let's play the hero and catch a few bandits." Nevada soon came barreling after them.

"You think we cut them off?" She asked.

Hunter looked up the hall and tried to hold back a laugh, "Yeah, I think we beat em." He pointed ahead, the bb bandits were struggling to cary a green idol with a goofy face on it. It looked extremely tacky. He stopped snickering when he saw Vivian pull out two dino medals. His smile turned into a frown when he heard Nevada cry out that she didn't have her dino medals.

"Delta! S-raptor! Spinax!" Vivian's vivosaurs were both fire types. Hunter didn't know their names but he could guess the dinosaur species: deinonychus and lambeosaurus. Hunter's vivowatch told him that they were a nychus and a lambeo. Spinax roared with something similar to anger.

"What's got you riled up?" Hunter tilted his head in confusion, "are those vivosaurs insulting you?"

"No but that dog is," spinax grunted back, "he called me pointy! Can you believe the nerve of that guy?!"

Hunter sighed as spinax vomited on lambeo, "dude, you may be coming down with something,"

"How'd you mean?"

"You just said that a dog spoke to you and being called pointy was an insult. I called you pointy last week!"

"I see your POINT! Haha! Get it?"

"And you accused me of drinking…" Hunter barked out commands to his sane vivosaurs and they were able to knock lambeo off of spinax. Delta began a deadly dance with nychus and S-raptor began to spew fire at lambeo. Spinax was in the corner chasing his tail.

"Can you PLEASE at least try to be serious?!" Hunter moaned, "we're in the middle of a battle!"

"You got it!" Spinax replied, "we'll definitely send them blasting off again!" Yeah, he's completely lost it. Lambeo delivered a flurry of punches to S-raptor, knocking it into spinax. Delta had been poisoned by nychus and was below half health. Hunter ran over to where spinax was and did the only thing he could think of, punching him in his eye.

"GRRRRROOOOAAAAARRRRR!" The roar knocked Hunter off his feet. S-raptor quickly removed itself from the situation, getting off of spinax to avoid being impaled. Delta moved next to S-raptor and the two began to enjoy the show when Hunter said his greatest motivational speech ever.

"Are these guys too strong for you pointy?"

It was a miracle the entire digadigamid wasn't leveled. A flash of light and then a massive tornado was all Hunter saw until he blacked out. When he came too. He immediately noticed the thing standing over him.

"Enjoying your beauty sleep?" Nevada had a way of being intimidating all the time. He was in a teepee in digadigamid village. Hunter was laying down on a bed that almost touched the ground. After Hunter had calmed down enough, Nevada told him what had happened. The BB bandits had escaped, but they didn't get their hands on the tacky idol they wanted. Spinax had blown them away to who knows where.

"No need to thank me," spinax was clearly sick and hormonal, "all in a days work."

"Couldn't have done it without you pointy," Hunter smiled as spinax rampaged in his mind. Nevada left with a smile.

"Thanks for the help kid, I'm sure your girlfriend's proud of ya." Before Hunter could work out what she said, Nevada walked out and Rosie came bursting in. Expecting congratulations, Hunter was given a surprise in the form of a slap in the face.

"You digadimwit! Why digadid you go in that stupid pyramidiga without me?!"

"I see the "blessing" hasn't worn off yet," Hunter mused.

"Yeah," Rosie pouted, "But it only happens when I'm in the village. By the way, the chief gave you a reward." She gestured to the corner. The tacky idol was there.

"Why not. Could make a nice lawn gnome." Hunter smiled as Rosie laughed. Then he went ridged and looked away. This bed really was low to the ground. He could see up her skirt!

"From turtle dove to peeping Tom," spinax sighed, "what a fall from grace." Hunter died on the inside. When Rosie noticed.

Even as the road back was filled with jewel rocks, fossil battles, and running from a pink haired girl screaming "peeper!", one thought never left Hunter's mind. The last thing he saw before he blacked out.

A massive vivosaur in crystal armor.

Done! Sorry for the wait one this one, I hope it was worth it!

Hunter: no it wasn't, you made me a pervert!

I didn't hear you complaining when you saw Rosie's underwear! Leave a review if you feel like it!

Hunter: wait, why was this chapter delayed?

1\. I visited my brother

2\. E3

Hunter: ohhhhhhhhhh.


	11. Chapter 11

Journey of the soul chapter 11

…

Hunter: did you catch a huge typo in the last chapter?

…

Hunter: cross? You there?

..huh? Oh sorry. I was playing video games

Hunter: well…at least we have something interesting to put in the intro

Wait, the intro started?!

Hunter: cross doesn't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

Roommates. They can either be a lifelong friend or the person you would trip in a zombie apocalypse. Hunter was prepared for both when he got the message that he would be getting a roommate.

"Why didn't you just pay for the hotel room?" Spinax moaned. Hunter silently agreed with His vivosaur as he lint rolled the sofa. The agreement with the manager was that Hunter could stay for free as long as he was okay with having roommates. Hunter thought this was a great deal since nobody likes to share hotel rooms. Apparently he was wrong.

"Is it really that big of a deal to clean up for another guy who's just gonna make a slightly less wreck of the place than you?" Spinax once again moaned, "we could just leave it as is."

"You don't know me very well do you." Hunter desperately tried to flatten his gravity defying hair, "and what's this we stuff? Last time I checked, your not popping out of your medal to vacuum."

"Well excuuuuuuse me for not waiting upon your needs."

"Dramatic much?"

"Neat freak much?"

The sound of the doorbell drowned out Hunter's reply and saved his PG rating. Spinax let out one final sigh before quieting. As Hunter made it to the door, a terrible thought just occurred: what if his roommate was a girl? Suddenly he felt very paranoid. Did he smell okay? Was his visor lopsided? Did he remember to change his shirt?

"You're wearing the same shirt as yesterday?" Spinax seemed slightly disgusted.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Hunter replied.

"Yesterday, the same day you went through an ancient pyramid and took a nap on the ground." Hunter's dread multiplied as he opened the door.

(Three minutes later)

"You were seriously worried about your hair?!" Holt laughed for another three minutes, "you may be crazier than me!" Hunter knew he was crazier than what most people would believe. But still, at least his roommate would be someone he knew. Holt has taken an apprenticeship on vivosaur island and needed a place to stay. Now that Hunter knew who his roommate would be, he was much more relaxed.

"Did you remember to put on deodorant?" Spinax teased.

"HahahahahahHA!" Hunter sat on his dino medal as he and Holt continued talking. Ah, sweet silence.

"So, what do you do for fun around here?" Holt was already unpacking his stuff and looking at Hunter's bookshelf.

"Well…I don't spend a lot of time in here," Hunter scratched his head, "the computer's got television channels so you could try that."

"Sweet, what're you gonna do?"

"Level up battles are today, I'd figured I should do something normal for once."

"Cool." Hunter helped Holt with the computer, then he was on his way.

"Leaving after your new lifelong friend just shows up," spinax tutted, "how inconsiderate."

"Chill out, we've been friends." Hunter ran a hand through his hair, "it's not like I need to make a good first impression."

"Your right! It's not like the only other person your friends with thinks you're a peeping Tom!" Spinax replied cheerily. Hunter ignored the urge the throw his dino medal into the ocean. The last thing he needed now was to think about… that incident.

"Oh look! More people who don't like you!" Hunter turned. He stared at the person staring back. Well, he thinks their staring. It's hard to tell when their eyes are behind a hood. Hunter didn't know if this was the same guy who pushed him into the hole. Frankly, he didn't care. He decided to show exactly what he thought of this guy with a simple flick of the finger.

"Woah! Watch the language!" Spinax roared in Hunter's ear, "there are kids reading this!"

"Oh…sorry," the hooded figure began walking towards Hunter. Spinax made a noise that sounded like a growl, but it was hard to tell because he sneezed in the middle of it. No matter, Hunter was now face to face with the people who've messed with him more than spinax.

"What do you want from me?" Hunter glared at the darkness behind the hood. The person said nothing. Instead, they pulled out a dino medal from their pocket.

"A battle?" They nodded. Apparently these guys were the silent type, "fine. But if I win, you have to stop bugging me." They nodded again. The hood (cross: I'm calling them hoods now…because I got tired of saying hooded figure) walked towards the fossil stadium, obviously in no hurry. As if they thought they could win.

"It's been a while since I crushed someone's hopes and dreams," spinax laughed maniacally, "can't wait." Hunter wished he could wipe the smug look off spinax's face by saying he wouldn't be fighting, but spinax is his strongest vivosaur. Hunter walked to the fossil stadium in silence hoping that his partner would take the hint. Of course, he didn't and talked the whole way.

"How long do you think it'll take for me to rip his excuse for a vivosaur's head off?"

"Someone's being a little overconfident," Hunter raised an eyebrow, "now isn't the time for joking around."

"Your right, master Assassin Sora, we need to be 100% serious." Hunter ruefully remembered the fake identity he made just to… well, joke around.

After about ten minutes of sliding on his butt in the stadium, Hunter managed to pull himself up at the front desk. Apparently, the hood had already set up the match. Hunter couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if he refused.

"That possibility is best left not explored. Let us continue with the kicking of butts good sir!" Spinax the Englishman was really starting to get on Hunter's nerves. The arena was packed as usual. The hood was already standing on their side, medal in hand.

"One on one huh?" Hunter pulled spinax out of the holder, "good, I've got to pick up some groceries in a few minutes." Hunter took note that the announcers didn't say the hood's name.

"Let's get this show on the road folks! Fighters, call out your vivosaurs!" The hood called out a vivosaur called zino. It was a herbivorous creature that stood upright. Its arms ended in long sharp claws. Hunter stared at the dinosaur with more anxiety than expected. It just looked so…blank. It was like it was a robot or something.

"Spinax, prepare for battle!" Hunter called out his partner after spinning his medal. As usual, the battle began with a hurricane hurl.

"Do you have to do that every time?!" Spinax moaned between vomiting. It worked either way. Zino took a handful of puke straight to the eyes.

"We've got 'em now! Cyclone!" Spinax executed the command perfectly. A tornado threw zino into the air. It was to stunned to make a move and the hood wasn't giving commands.

"Finish it with spinax fang!" Hunter called. Spinax launches it self in the air and reared back its jaws for the fatal strike.

That's when the unexpected happened.

Hunter wasn't sure what happened. It looked as if spinax's teeth simply bounced off Zino's skin. The blank eyed monster made it's move. First, the creature brought its claws down on spinax, raking his face. A squealing sound similar to nails on a chalkboard echoed throughout the staudium. Hunter covered his ears and tried to get out another command, but he heard more than just the din.

"You have refused your path, there will be consequences."

Hunter held his head in his hands. The burning pain was similar to when he read that report log tablet.

"Pull it together! We're getting slapped right now!" Spinax brought hunter back to reality and man, reality is not pretty. Zino had driven it's claws INTO spinax's leg. He roared with pain and attempted to crunch down on zino's head, but the fangs simply were repelled. It's almost like the vivosaur was wearing armor.

"Cyclonic breath!" No more messing around. Spinax fired a laser beam from his jaws and blasted zino in the head. Fire erupted around zino. Spinax roared in triumph. Hunter smiled and wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Such acts will not be tolerated"

No less than six lasers shot from the fire and pierced spinax in the chest. Zino emerged from the flame and opened its mouth, displaying teeth with jagged edges. Hunter could practically see his reflection in them.

A sickening crack echoed throughout the stadium…

"Remember your place…X"

…

Hunter: Done?

…NOOOO!

Hunter: you okay?

GOSH DANG LINGERING WILL! YOU WILL DIE A FIREY DEATH! MARK MY WORDS!

Hunter: (sigh) well, for the question of the day, who do you guys think the hoods are? (They are from the fossil fighters universe)

Yeah! And extra credit to whoever can guess what game I'm playing!...SERIOUSLY!ANTI-FORM NOW?!

Hunter: …sorry this chapter's a little short but hey, quality over quantity right? Thanks for reading!

Those are my lines!...HEAL ME YOU STUPID DUCK!


	12. Update of the soul 1

Journey of the soul cover explanation.

Hey there, 5 people that read my stuff. Sorry, this isn't early chapter twelve. I would just like to say two things. One: I now have 500 views! (Hunter is still drunk from the party) two: this story now has a cover art and it's pretty cool if I do say so myself.

Problem is, I didn't create this art. I got permission to borrow this image from devianart, but I don't think the original creator of the art knows. The person's username is ShadicBroB on devianart so if you guys could look at his/her stuff that'd be great (if your reading this, please don't sue me). Anyway, here's to 500 views and to a successful franchise! (Still waiting on fossil fighters 4 Nintendo)


	13. Chapter 12

Journey of the soul chapter 12 (its real this time, I promise)

I started this story over two months ago, and now that I'm here. I gotta say, I'm surprised hunter lost in chapter eleven and not chapter two.

Hunter: hey! I have feelings you know!

Sure, and I'm Sora the master Assassin

Hunter: …you're going to make that a running gag aren't you…

You know it. I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

X. The twenty fourth letter of the alphabet. It's strange how a letter could impose so much fear.

"Hang on, looks like he's coming to." Hunter slowly opened his eyes to see two blurry faces staring down at him. What happened? Where was he? Slowly, his memories returned. Hunter quickly stood up and winced in pain.

"Take it easy, would ya? It's not gonna help if you pass out again?" Pass out? Hunter blinked a few times and stared at some familiar faces.

"Holt? Rosie? What are you guys doing in….where are we?"

"Vivosaur island's hospital," Rosie explained. Hunter noticed she wasn't looking at him. Was she still mad about…the incident? Holt took notice of this and smiled.

"Hey Hunter, you might want to pull that blanket up. Rosie's trying not to stare." This caused Hunter to look down and realize he was shirtless and this caused Rosie to slug Holt in the shoulder. Hunter had a feeling he had it worse than holt though. There was an x shaped scar on his chest.

"How did I get here?" Hunter asked, "the last thing I can remember is losing the battle to that guy in the hood." Losing the battle. Those words left a bad taste in his mouth. It wasn't even a close match, he got completely steamrolled. Speaking of who got steamrolled, where was spinax? His holder was missing a slot.

"The doctor said you had an allergic reaction to something in the stadium," Holt explained, "you may want to stay away from peanuts for the time being."

"Hmm" Hunter didn't believe that for one second, but who would believe him even if he was telling the truth? A strange voice only he could hear gave him headaches? Hunter tried to get up again, but his legs had fallen asleep and he fell back down.

"You're not very good at listening." Rosie sighed. Hunter was about to retort with "rich snob" but more important things came to mind.

"Do you guys know where my spinax dino medal is?" Rosie and Holt both lowered their heads with sad looks.

"Well uh…. You see…," Holt started, "spinax got beaten pretty badly."

"This can happen when a low ranked vivosaur takes on a stronger one." Rosie said, "but I've never seen it as bad as this." She opened her hand to reveal spinax's dino medal.

There was a large crack in the middle.

The next few days were spent in Hunter's hotel room, staring at the crack in his vivosaur's medal. Hunter kept hitting himself on the head. He was stupid to fight the hood and now spinax was paying for it. Holt was working most days and Rosie stopped by occasionally, but neither of them could get a word out of Hunter. Eventually hunter would go outside. Level up battles would be ending soon, so he would go up to the stadium and watch people win. He found himself being envious of the people who didn't have a care in the world as they leveled up. Not even the fact that Nevada Montecarlo was the level 2 master got a reaction out of him. Dr. Diggins had run through a full analysis of spinax's condition. His news was not good. The crack had breached the transformation module in the dino medal. Spinax's natural healing powers would do their best, but there is a chance that spinax would never transform into a vivosaur ever again.

Hunter stared at the blue horizon. He was sitting in a secluded area of the docks. Seagulls flew overhead, the occasional pterosaur passed by. Other than that, he was completely alone.

"I don't know if you can hear me." Hunter looked down at a slot in his holder, "but you deserve to know this. It was seven years ago. I was playing in the front yard. That's when my mom called me in for dinner. We were having steak and potatoes," Hunter recalled the event as if it had happened yesterday, "a man rang the doorbell. His face was covered in bandages. When mom opened the door… he put his hands around her throat and snapped her neck," a single tear slid down hunter's cheek, "dad screamed and charged at the man. That's when he pulled a gun out of his cloak. Five shots to my father's head." Hunter watched as a child ran by, being warned by their parents to be careful.

"I pleaded my parents to wake up…but they didn't. The man had turned his gun on me. I didn't realize what I was doing until after I did it. I grabbed the gun and turned it just as he shot" hunter watched the child trip and fall. Her mother and father both came to her aid, "he still tried to kill me. Wrapped his hands around my throat. I grabbed my steak knife off the table…and I drove it into his head." Hunter shivered at that last sentence. He stared down at the dino medal and slowly removed it from the holder, "the police showed up later, but I was already gone. My fingerprints were all over the crime scene. On the gun and the knife. I was the prime suspect. I made it to an orphanage where no one knew who I was. The rest is a blur until I left for vivosaur island." Hunter let another tear roll down his cheek. He felt as if he had just lost his best friend. Nothing was going to help.

"I'm sorry I never told you earlier, I just never expected something like this to happen." Hunter then realized something. Spinax wouldn't care what happens! He would just keep moving forward, laughing and joking all the way there. Spinax has always be there to encourage Hunter in his own way. With every sarcastic comment, exotic accent, or inside joke that he still didn't understand. Spinax wouldn't want Hunter to give up! Hunter clicked spinax's dino medal back in to the holder. Maybe it was excess energy from being cooped up too long. Maybe it was that the crack in the dino medal was slightly smaller, but Hunter felt compelled to battle… and level up. After stopping by the hotel and leaving a note for Holt, (Will be at stadium. Dinner in fridge.) Hunter set out with a smile on his face for the first time in days.

"Hunter: level 2 fighter." Tiffany read off his license. After a mad dash to the fossil stadium and about five minutes of sliding on the floor, Hunter was ready to win. Nevada greeted Hunter formally, but had a look in her eye that said "don't think I'll go easy on you". Which is just what Hunter wanted. They had agreed on a two on two match. Hunter walked out on the stadium. It was later in the day so the lights were on. Hunter's visor had a slight tint. In the darkness, but the dark didn't stop his enthusiasm from shining through.

"I'm going to win this," Hunter told himself as he mindlessly selected two dino medals, "for spinax and for myself." Nevada tossed out her vivosaurs first. A nychus and a vivosaur that his vivowatch called a U-raptor. The creature was a large dromeosaur with feathers that reminded Hunter of the stereotypical Native American. Hunter threw his medals with determination.

"For spinax!" He said to himself.

"I'm so flattered!" A voice shot back, "All this for little old me?" Hunter quickly checked his holder. No way…

"I'M BACK SUKAS!" Spinax roared onto the battlefield, delta's support effects were making him glow with power.

"Now you decide to come back?" Hunter shook his head, but was smiling nonetheless, "You totally ruined my redemption story arc."

"I did? I owe myself a Coke then.(cross: not sponsored!) Besides, I'm obviously the fan favorite." Hunter rolled his eyes and laughed. Spinax made a noise that sounded similar to laughing.

"Good to have you back partner. Now, how about we kick some tail?"

"Keeping it PG I see" spinax grinned at his enemies, "great way to wake up from my first nap in 78 million years." Spinax charged at nychus and slammed it into the wall. Delta shot a stream of water at U-raptor to prevent it from helping its injured ally. Hunter smiled the entire battle. His vivowatch told him that spinax was in perfect health. (Cross: if this is starting to sound like a "power of friendship" cliché. That's because it is) U- raptor charged at delta, claws out stretched. The two grappled with each other. Delta shot blasts of water everywhere, trying to hit the fast moving raptor, but U-raptor would counter by breathing fire. Steam filled the arena. Hunter tried to spot his vivosaurs, but all that was visible was the shadow of spinax. Nychus had escaped being pinned down and was now circling spinax judging by his movements. Hunter then got an idea.

"Cyclone!" The resulting tornado blew away the steam and also managed to push nychus away from spinax. Hunter could now see that delta was struggling with its opponent. U-raptor appeared to have some sort of poison in its claws and delta was already affected. It tried to limp away from its attacker and if spinax hadn't blocked streams of fire from both nychus and U-raptor, then delta would've been done for.

"Toxicity levels increased dramatically." Hunter's vivowatch beeped, "danger, knockout imminent." Hunter gritted his teeth. This isn't good.

"Nychus claw!" Nychus charged at delta. That's when hunter made his move.

"Counter!" A blue shield appeared around delta. When nychus's claws connected, the shield exploded. Nychus flew backwards and disappeared in a flash of light. Delta smiled (that's what it looked like) before collapsing and fading away from the poison. Now only spinax and U-raptor remained. The two creatures faced each other. Spinax roared while U-raptor hissed. The two charged and shot tornadoes and fire respectively. Spinax rushed through the fire, not fazed at all. in one swift movement, he whipped U-raptor into the wall with his tail.

"Cyclonic breath!"

"Flaming shot!" (Cross: don't know the name for the attack)

Two lasers collided. Fire and tornadoes erupted in the arena. Smoke billowed outwards. Wind whipped through the stadium. When the smoke cleared one vivosaur was standing. That vivosaur wasn't spinax. U-raptor roared in triumph as spinax lied on the ground. The raptor then fell over and disappeared in white light. Spinax let out a snore louder than the cheering crowd.

"Are you sure you really fell asleep and that you weren't just trying to be dramatic?"

"What can I say? I just needed a power nap." Hunter and spinax continued to argue as Hunter got up to level three, as they examined his dino medal with dr. Diggins, and on the way home. The crack was completely mended and dr, diggins even managed to fix the other broken systems in the dino medal. Hunter whistled and swung his velociraptor claw around until he reached the hotel. His vivowatch read that it was 10:23.

"Holt's going to be asleep so let's be quiet," Hunter reminded spinax.

"I'm the crazy voice in your head remember?" Spinax yawned, "besides, your light's still on." Hunter looked up, his hotel room light was indeed, still on. Hunter could see a shadow moving around. Wait…two shadows? Was there another person in there? The light in the room then immediately shut off.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he said to himself.

"Then use the force," spinax suggested. Inside jokes, why did he miss them again? Hunter entered the hotel and silently climbed up the stairs. The elevator would've given him away. As he neared the door, Hunter held his key in one hand and his pickax in the other. Slowly, he turned the key.

"SURPRISE!"

"GAAAAAAAH!" Hunter yelled as the lights flicked on and two faces popped up in front of him.

"Congratulations man!" Holt patted Hunter on the shoulder, "level 3 isn't easy to get."

"What's all this?" Hunter asked the other person, Rosie. His apartment was filled with streamers and a few balloons a large picture of a spinax hung in the corner.

"We thought we should do something to cheer you up!" Rosie smiled, "although you could've shown up a little earlier. Holt has already eaten most of the cake."

"You guys didn't have to do this, it's not like it's my birthday. Besides, how did you know I leveled up?"

"The note you left," holt explained, "all regular battles would be done at that time."

"Besides!" Rosie, "it's not like you wouldn't level up." The three laughed and Hunter realized something. These people were willing to throw this all together just to cheer him up! Hunter never had a lot of friends, but now he-

"Blah blah blah sentimental junk," spinax interrupted, "Now I believe a cake was mentioned?" Hunter was to happy to even point out that spinax wouldn't be able to eat the cake.

"Well you guys weren't that far off," Hunter said, "my actual birthday was two weeks ago. (Cross: June 22nd for those who want to know)"

"Cool! That means the present I bought wasn't for nothing!" Holt pulled out a parcel from behind him.

"Wait. Your plan was to bring me gifts to cheer me up? Did Rosie plan this?" The two boys laughed as Rosie tried to get Hunter in a head lock.

Hunter had forgotten how much fun parties were. He got a new fossil case from holt and a camera from Rosie. They played some surprisingly fun games, and Hunter even managed to get a slice of cake before holt shoved the rest of it in his mouth. It was 11:54 when Rosie left, holt had already fallen asleep on the couch.

"See you later," Hunter stood in the doorway as Rosie said her farewells.

"Wait," Rosie grabbed Hunter's wrist as he turned to close the door, "I still have another present for you."

"Really?" Hunter felt a bit spoiled, "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I have a feeling you'll like this one though."

"I really don't need ano-" Hunter fell silent, then he started to freak out.

"Well look at that!" Spinax mused, "score 1 for the turtle dove!"

"SPINAX WHAT DO I DO! HER MOUTH IS ON MY CHEEK!" Spinax replied by laughing. Rosie pulled away and smiled at Hunter before walking off. Hunter put his hand to his forehead and pulled his visor off calmly. He walked over to his bed, pressed his pillow to his face, and screamed louder than a t-rex could roar.

Done! So for those of you who are like "the love interest is definitely Rosie". I'm sorry to say this (no I'm not) but I can still mix things up with a certain character (staying spoiler free). For the question of the day: who is really the fan favorite? Hunter or spinax? The extra credit question about what game I was playing is still in effect so don't lose hope.

Hunter: why do you even need to ask that question? I'm obviously the favorite character

Spinax: care to put money on that bet?

Hunter: bring it on lizard breath!

Spinax: you asked for it orphan!

Hunter:…you just crossed the line (pulls out pickax)

…I should probably break this up…but I want to see how it ends. Thanks for reading!


	14. Chapter 13

Journey of the soul chapter thirteen

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages. Allow me to be the first to announce that this episode will most likely be crap! Blame the 13!

Hunter: what is it with you and the number 13?

Unluckiest number ever. I don't take chances. That in mind, I'm going to start this episode in a dig site so spinax doesn't fall off the docks.

Hunter: wow, it really is unlucky. You forgot to say you don't own fossil fighters

….(sigh) the curse continues

Never in his short life has Hunter wished days would go by faster. He would mostly complain that the days went by too fast. Not today. Today was Friday the thirteenth.

"I thought you didn't believe in superstition?" Spinax muttered.

"This isn't superstition, this is my luck," Hunter looked down at the ravine below him. Rivet ravine was a new dig site that Hunter had access to. Thanks to his luck, he had dropped his breakfast into a gorge, tripped on three different rocks, and forgot his canteen. It was one of the hottest days of the year and he forgot water.

"Maybe I should've just stayed home," Hunter dug his pickax into the ground and began to pull out a fossil.

"You could've," spinax started, "but then I would be bored out of my mind."

"So sorry that your entertainment was at stake."

"Apology accepted,"

"You really need to learn how sarcasm works." Hunter didn't hear spinax's reply, he was too focused on the fossil he had just found. It was a dark grey color and was immensely heavy. Hunter slid it into his backpack and yelped when the backpack dropped on his foot.

"Did that trigger your allergic reaction?" Spinax mused.

"HahahahahahahahahaHa!...shut up." Hunter looked in his backpack. Nothing was broken, not even the strange tablet he had found last week. Hunter stared at the black screen for a moment before zipping up his pack.

"Didn't that thing give you a nightmare seizure?" Spinax asked, "why do you still have it?"

"I don't know, I just haven't gotten rid of it. Maybe I can-" hunter froze as a shadow was cast over him. He look up and saw a creature that was blocking out the sun. A pterosaur of some kind. But the vivosaur itself wasn't what interested hunter, someone was riding on top of it.

"Wonder who that is," Spinax mused.

"Let's go find out!" Hunter dashed up the path to follow the person on the vivosaur. Even after tripping twice and being insulted by a certain big mouthed lizard with no brain, he still kept in hot pursuit. That is until the pterosaur flew over a rock wall.

"Well, there goes the chance of learning how to fly on a pterosaur." Hunter sighed and kicked his foot on the ground. He then yelped in pain and cradled his stubbed toe.

"Wait. That's why we followed them?" Spinax made a noise that sounded similar to a balloon deflating, "why don't you just learn yourself?"

"I fell off a stationary horse, I need teaching,"

"That's not that big of a-"

"The horse was asleep,"

"…point made,"

"Did you see what the guy looked like?"

"I saw a cowboy hat and a pickax across his back but not much else." Hunter sighed. Not only was he not getting flying lessons, but now he was tired in the hot sun with no water. He was pretty sure he was also lost.

"Shade at two o'clock!" Hunter turned and saw what spinax was talking about. A tunnel dug into the side of the cliff face. That should work. Hunter walked In the cave and picked up the scent of coal, gasoline, and three day old armpit stench. That last one may had just been spinax but Hunter now knew he was in a mine. The scent gave it away, along with the giant screaming man running towards him with a pickax.

"THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BUSTIN' UP MCJUNKER'S MINE-CARS YOU THEIF!" Hunter couldn't tell if the miner or spinax was screaming louder. Either way he should probably move.

"Thief? What are you talking about?" Hunter dodged the oncoming swing and watched as the miner tripped and planted on the ground.

"Wait, you aren't the thief who busted up ol' mcjunker's mine cars and stole his tools?" Hunter stared down at the miner. He looked slightly off putting with a purple shirt and green overalls.

"I don't know anything about broken mine cars and stolen tools," Hunter turned and looked at said broken mine cars, "but I can help you out if you want."

"I thought we were here for shade." Spinax grunted.

"Would you rather look around in here or go back outside?"

"…point made…again. I think your bad luck is rubbing off on me." The miner was named mcjunker and needed help getting his tools back.

"They were stolen by some people in purple pajamas." Mcjunker explained.

"Try saying that five times fast." Spinax being childish aside, Hunter had a pretty good idea about who had stolen the tools.

"You bring ol' mcjunker's tools back and I'll let ya in my private mine. Plenty a' rare fossils there. The tools are still somewhere in the mine. I can feel it in me-" where exactly mcjunker could feel it, We may never know. Hunter had already set out.

"Why didn't you replace the batteries?" Spinax moaned.

"For the last time, I didn't know they needed to be replaced," they had been walking in the mine tunnels for a good hour and the flashlight had ran out of power. Only the faint glow of Hunter's vivowatch illuminated the area. Hunter couldn't see his hands in front of his face or the rocks he kept tripping over. Spinax's commentary wasn't improving his mood either.

"Why don't we go back?"

"Because we are lost."

"Why are we lost?"

"Because I don't know which way to go."

"How come?"

"Because I can't see crap."

"Why not?"

"Because our flashlight is dead."

"And whose fault is that?"

"The big lizard who's going to be thrown down the ravine if I get out of here."

"What was that noise?!" Hunter was about to make good on his threat when he heard it too. A low pitched rustling noise. Hunter pulled out his pickax and carefully walked forward. The noise became louder, and changed from a rustling to a soft moaning.

"ET OHH O I ASE!" Hunter jumped back with a yelp. Something was directly in front of him!

"Show yourself!" Hunter yelled.

"Not until you apologize for stepping on my face!" A flashlight shined in hunter's face, "Wait a minute, are you that kid the boss was talking about?" Hunter was greeted by the unpleasant sight of the purple beanie and jumpsuit.

"The idiots from the pyramid? Great, I've been looking for a reason to stomp on someone," Spinax laughed maniacally.

"Did you forget that we're in a tiny mine tunnel?" Hunter rested his face on his hand.

"No, but apparently he did." Hunter looked at the B.B. bandit. There was a dino medal in his hands.

"You're going down kid!" The bandit tossed the dino medal straight forward and hunter got a good look at it. A Metria: a vivosaur twice the size of the tunnel.

"Oh crap," Hunter grabbed the medal as it was lighting up and threw it as hard as he could back towards the bandit. A frantic game of hot potato ensued and spinax transformed into a training coach.

"C'mon! Back and forth! Back and forth! Work those biceps!"

"Can you actually do something please?" Hunter rolled his eyes as he threw the medal back once more, "isn't there a way to stop it?"

"Not unless you want to break the medal." Hunter sighed. Even if it was an enemy, he wouldn't take another life. Human or vivosaur. He made a promise to himself. Never again.

Unfortunately, not everyone shared his views.

The medal slipped between Hunter's fingers after the bandit charged at him. He didn't hear the clank as the medal hit the ground, or the sound of the vivosaur transforming.

"Such an interesting design. Able to revert to its original form, but stays as it is when exposed to contact," Hunter turned around, but only the glowing dino medal was visible in the darkness, "I suppose this is what you use as means of combat?" Hunter couldn't tell if the voice was male or female, but he could tell from the black coat that the hoods decided he wasn't having a bad enough day.

"I see what you mean by luck, this sucks," Spinax let out a current of air and sighed, "not even a running gag could lighten the mood."

"Tell that lizard to hold his tongue," Hunter couldn't tell if he or spinax was more surprised.

"How do you know about that?"

"It would satisfy you to know that information, so I will not disclose it."

"Hey!" The B.B. bandit was still here? "Stop ignoring me!" He got in front of the hood, "we hid the tools like you guys wanted! Why are you still here!" Hunter listened intently while he removed the wrench and pliers from the bandit's belt.

"You did as we asked, but we said nothing of destroying this area with your petty revenge plot."

"The boss said take out the kid. You're not the boss. Why should I listen to you!"

"Very well," in one swift movement, the hood crushed the dino medal in their hands, "you now have no means to fight. Leave this place." The bandit yelped and ran. Hunter stood in shock. He had just witnessed murder. Cold blooded vivosaur murder. Spinax roared in rage.

"Does the loss of your enemy upset you?" The hood chuckled.

"…what are you?"

"A more apparent question would be: what are you?" Hunter charged at the hood, ready to attack with the wrench. The hood dodged his swipe easily.

"Are you angry? That is strange indeed. I don't remember you ever having emotion."

"What are you talking about? I've never met you before!"

"Tsk tsk. Your amnesia is not being beneficial to us at all. If your original implant had failed too. Then we would've eliminated you earlier."

"Shut up…Shut up!"

"You doubt yourself, good. That doubt will help your mission."

"I said Shut up!"

"You forget your place. I presumed the loss you suffered at my hands would be sufficient in reminding you. You disappoint me, specimen x."

"SHUT UP!" Hunter thrust his fist at the hood, but they swiftly moved away and disappeared as quickly as they had shown up. Hunter tripped and fell to his knees. He didn't get up.

"So the B.B. bandits work for the hoods, who know you even though you don't know them and can hear me speak," Spinax sighed, "but what do they want aside from making our lives suck?" Hunter didn't reply. He instead pulled out the black tablet from his backpack. As he suspected, new report logs were there.

Report 4: XX day of the XX month

Specimen X has started displaying something akin to emotion. This is problematic by itself. But when combined with its amnesia, this makes extremely strenuous to bend it to our will. X does however, retain its original implant and is working towards its intended purpose.

Report 5: XX day of the XX month

A vivosaur in the care of specimen X has displayed multiple traits of higher evolution. My hypothesis is that it is able to communicate with X due to a neuropathic link. It is possible that a seed of intelligent life developed too quickly?

Report 6: XX day of the XX month

our hired assistants have come across trouble in completing their objective. Specimen X has interfered with their operations. Perhaps it is time I remind X of its purpose.

Report 7: XX day of the XX month

X has been reminded of its place. Hopefully this will get it on its original, intended path. I presume that I may have to interfere again soon. The dinomaton was almost defeated.

Report 8: XX day of the XX month

Specimen X has not responded to its calling. Perhaps I should have a conversation with what everyone refers to as the "failed experiment". Sometimes I wish that tyranis was able to finish his mission and exterminate it. Dying to a weak human child, this potential has seemed to be lost with X. Perhaps a result of the cross breeding?

The tablet fell to the floor. Not even spinax spoke. Hunter had learned three things today. The hoods were responsible for his parents death, they have some sort of plan for him, and finally:

They had done something to him in the past. And if the hood he talked to had any truth to their words, then he was playing right into their hands.

Done! Sorry for the wait on this chapter, hopefully this was worth it!

Hunter:…why do you enjoy torturing me?!

Because I was feeling dark and mysterious. Blame the 13!

Hunter: can I blame you instead? 'Cause that's what I'm gonna do!

…anyway. For the Question of the day….uh…..what's your favorite video game?

Hunter: mine is fossil fighters!

Gee, how original. Mine is-

Hunter: THANKS FOR READING!


	15. Chapter 14

Journey of the soul chapter 14

…..

Hunter: the silent beginning cliché is getting old. What are you doing?

Watching our view count. This is really bad. We are almost at 900!

Hunter: I thought that was a good thing. Didn't you want people to see your story?

I know, but I said I would share your entire past if we hit 1000! I'm not ready for that! I haven't gotten that far in the story yet!

Hunter: …..

…hello?

Hunter: EVERYONE RE-READ THE ENTIRE STORY RIGHT NOW! I MUST KNOW!

That'll never happen. Anyway I don't own fossil fighters…hunter, what are you- get away from my phone! STOP REFRESHING THE PAGE! THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!

Memories are strange. How can something so integral to the human identity be forgettable? Why do we forget moments of our life for no reason? Well, I suppose sometimes that can be a blessing.

"Ah! There ye' are junior!" Mcjunker beamed at Hunter when he held out the missing tools, "any trouble with getting' my tools back?"

"No…no trouble at all. The tools had a little rust on them so I cleaned them off, but no trouble."

"You alright there junior? Ya' look like ya seen a ghost."

"I'm….fine. Can you fix the mine cars?"

"Well, I'll need an electromite to power the mine cars or they ain't going anywhere. My apprentice should have a few at the junk depot. Can ya' help guy out and get some for me?"

"Sure."

"Thanks junior, here's a note explainin' the situation to my apprentice." Hunter left quickly, walking down the ravine and not stopping for anything.

"…are we going to talk about what just happened?" Spinax breathed in slowly, "You do realize that this is really serious."

"Not now spinax, I'm trying to figure out the hood's plan."

"…which is?"

"I know that they have some sort of plan called project mother planet, and that I'm supposed to help them with it somehow. The B.B. bandits are also involved…I think."

"Well, someone's done their homework."

"Now is not the time to be funny, we have to stop whatever they're planning."

"Why does this feel like a setup for a superhero movie?" Hunter didn't answer, he kept walking down the ravine. Spinax snorted and his medal turned in the holder. Eventually, they made it back to vivosaur island. However, instead of heading to the junk depot, Hunter went to his hotel room.

"Holt's made a mess again." The floor was littered with chip bags, clothes, and even a broken pickax. Hunter dumped his own digging supplies on the bed and grabbed an energy bar before leaving again.

"Are you sure your okay?" Spinax asked.

"Oh I'm just fine. I learned that a group that had killed my parents had done something to me that I don't remember," Hunter looked at his velociraptor claw necklace, "I can't remember 6 years of my life and I keep seeing the words cross breeding. How much of what I know is a lie?"

"Perhaps you should take a pregnancy test. You never know what they could've done."

"NOT HELPING." Hunter moved through the park area, looking for the junk depot. Where was it again? He wandered around for a while, trying to clear his head.

"What time is it spinax?"

"Time to ask for directions."

"Very funny, who would I even ask?"

"I have no idea turtle dove. Who would possibly like you enough to help you out?" Hunter gulped, he hasn't spoken to Rosie since the day when she…Well, kissed him on the cheek.

"Now if you could only get your first official kiss. I'm rootin' for ya turtle dove!"

"Do you really think it is a good idea to talk to people when I'm having an identity crisis?"

"It could only be made better by a running gag. Oh I know!" A gust of wind blasted hunter off his feet. He groaned as he slid into the Richmond building on his stomach.

"Sir! I going to have to ask you to leave." The guards tried to stop him, but the human pinball was just too fast.

"I'm Hunter Cloud, Mr. Richmond knows me." Hunter slid through the bridges connecting the rooms and busted through a door, Hunter's visor fell onto his head. Where was he.

"Avert your eyes!"

"Spinax, I can't-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" What in the revival machine was that? Hunter tried to pull his visor up, but it was jammed.

"Hello?" Hunter reached out with his hands, "is anyone-"

"GET OUT!"

"Can you help me? My visor is-"

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" Hunter tried to pull his visor up again. He couldn't leave if he couldn't see the door. The person in the room was screaming so much he couldn't hear himself think, but he could hear spinax because…reasons.

"To the left! No, my left! Who taught you how to walk?!" Hunter fumbled through darkness until he hit something wooden and sharp.

"Ow!"

"Get out or I'll hit you again!"

"I would get out but I can't see! Where is the…Rosie? That you?"

"…yeah. You can't see?"

"Only the inside of my visor." Hunter once again tried to pull his visor up. Nope. It wouldn't budge. Spinax made a noise that sound like a balloon deflating.

"Seriously turtle dove, we need to have a conversation about your behavior."

"What are you talking about?" An eyebrow peeked up over the top of the visor.

"At least now you can confirm the rumor that girls do indeed lounge around in their underwear when no one's watching." Hunter processed what spinax just said.

"Hunter? You okay? Your nose is bleeding," Hunter felt a hand push him forwards, "the door is straight ahead."

"Thanks. Hey Rosie, do you know where the junk depot is?" Hunter wiped off his nose.

"Sure. It's south east from here. Just follow the path." Hunter thanked her and heard a door shutting and locking behind him.

"So, did you enjoy yourself?" Spinax whistled.

"Two things, one: can you get my visor off?" Spinax responded by shooting a gust of wind at Hunter's head. His visor flew up and Hunter was greeted with the inside of the Richmond building.

"Thanks. Two: that never happened,"

"Agreed." Hunter left the building and shook himself until he could focus again.

The junk depot itself wasn't very impressive. A dome-like building with the word junk spelled out with old pipes on the front. Hunter walked in and was greeted by a mountain of, Well, junk. Curiously, no one was there.

"Hello?" Hunter called out, no reply. Was mcjunker's apprentice taking a break? A shining box in the corner caught Hunter's eye. In the box were yellow, helix shaped batteries. The box was labeled "electromites".

"There's no way it's this easy. Nothing involving us ever is." Spinax did have a point. Hunter looked around. It couldn't be that simple. Could it?

"It would be a boring game if we just took em' without a fight." Spinax mused , "certainly not a game worthy of a fanfic."

"Hey!" Hunter smacked himself in the face, "cross said no breaking the fourth wall!"

"Look who's talking!"

Hunter was about to retort when something grabbed him. Before he knew it, he was in a headlock and being noogied.

"Man, I never expected you to show up here!" Hunter turned after being released and smiled once he saw who it was.

"You never told me you worked here Holt."

Holt grinned back, "I never told you where I worked to begin with. So, what brings you to the mighty kingdom of scrap metal and old springs?"

"Your boss mcjunker needs new electromites for his mine cars, so I'm hear to get one. He gave me a note." Hunter handed the note to Holt.

"Is that challenge enough for you spinax?"

"I don't think that's if. It feels like something like-" Holt's ginger shot into the air.

"Alright, you can have the electromite…if you beat me in a battle!"

"Yeah! That's exactly what I was talking about." Spinax aside, Hunter didn't think this was a good idea. He needed to focus and try to make sense of the things going on. A battle would only distract him. But holt was already pulling out two dino medals. No going back now.

"Go! Thor and Steve!" Two v-raptors appeared. Two of 101 if Hunter was remembering right.

"Let's go! Delta! S-raptor!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Hunter's vivosaurs roared as they appeared, but spinax was roaring louder, "put me in coach! How did the water type, which is WEAK to AIR, win out over me?!"

"Uh….because they haven't shown up for a few chapters?"

"BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL WILL NOT STOP MY RAGE!" Hunter didn't have time to reply because the fight ahead of him had already started. The two raptors were closing in on S-raptor. Delta shot a jet of water at the first v-raptor, but the second v- raptor sent a gust of wind at the stream, sending it away from the first v-raptor (cross: you know what? Typing out which v-raptor is doing what is already starting to hurt my thumbs. Does anyone mind if I just call them Thor and Steve? No? Okay,cool). Thor launched itself at delta while Steve charged at s-raptor. It was at this point that Hunter learned about one of spinax's many talents: back seat fossil fighting.

"Sweep the legs! Go for the head! Kill it with fire!" Hunter was drowned out in thoughts, Thor was drowned it delta's water, and s-raptor was drowned out in the shrieks of Steve as it jumped on his back and started clawing. Delta kicked Thor in the side, sending it towards s-raptor.

"S-fury!" The sinraptor caught Thor in his jaws. After shaking it around for a bit, s-raptor tossed Thor onto the ground and body slammed it. Steve fell off and crashed to the ground. S-raptor shot a jet of fire at Thor and the smell of singed feathers filed the air. Steve shrieked as its partner disappeared. However he was soon silenced when delta charged at it. Steve dodged the attack and snapped at delta. S-raptor was still shooting out fire and delta had to skid to a stop which caused it to fall over.

"This wouldn't happen if I was fighting. JUST SAYIN'" Spinax groaned as Steve jumped onto s-raptor. Delta scrambled around to avoid being stepped on as s-raptor trampled around.

"Toxic cyclone!" A purple tornado erupted from Steve's mouth and hit s-raptor square in the back. The creature fell over and Hunter saw an opening. But he would have to act fast, the poison would take s-raptor down in a matter of seconds.

"Quicken! Blitz attack!" S-raptor gazed away from Steve as delta surrounded itself in a veil of water. The awkwardly named velociraptor took the attack at full force and disappeared in white light.

"Well, looks like I can manage fine without you spinax."

"Debatable!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!" The argument continued as the two left the island and made their way back to the mine.

"Oi! Junior!" Mcjunker waved Hunter over. The broken mine cars that once resides in the mine looked like they had just been made. Hunter admired the sleek design of the mine car. That is, until Mcjunker told him to "hop in."

"What?!"

"I told ye' I'd let ya in my private dig site didn't I?" Hunter tried to object, but Mcjunker had already picked him up and forced him into the seat of the car.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Hunter tried to reason with the miner, but he was too busy fitting the electromite into its socket. The mine car roared to life. Mcjunker's finger was dangerously close to a button that said "launch"

Hunter gulped, "I really don't think this is a good idea!"

"Nonsense junior, you'll be fine! Just watch out, the varmints that busted up my mine cars might still be there!"

"What! Wh didn't you-" Too late. The button was pressed and Hunter was sent flying forwards.

"Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaah!" Spinax shouted with glee as the mine car blazed down the track. Hunter didn't speak, opening his mouth might make him throw up. Motion sickness wasn't usually a problem, but whoever made this track was drinking something strong. Right, left, left, zigzag. It didn't matter which way they turned, they only turned sharp and fast. There were only two speeds: blazing fast and end me now fast. When the ride was finally over, Hunter collapsed on the ground. His breathing was ragged and shallow.

"You still alive?" Spinax asked.

"No."

"Okay cool! Look ahead." Hunter turned his head and immediately wished he didn't. The B.B. bandit trio had their backs turned to him and they appeared to be digging for something. Well…trying to dig, the guy with the long nose and the dog kept hitting each other with their shovels on accident. Hunter walked up until he was in earshot.

"Honestly, can't you two idiots do anything useful?" The woman with the greasy blue hair was criticizing the two despite doing nothing herself. Hunter nonchalantly pulled out a hand shovel and started digging himself.

"You left the pickax at the hotel didn't you." Hunter didn't answer spinax's question. He kept digging until his shovel hit something with a "chunk". Three heads turned towards him at once.

"You!" Hunter dodged a shovel lobbed straight at his head, "what are you

Doing here!"

"Looking for a bathroom. What are you clowns doing?"

"Like we'd tell you!" Vivian, rex, and snivels each pulled out one dino medal. Hunter grabbed his three dino medals and thanked the revival machine that there was enough room.

"Can we just get to the fight?" Spinax groaned, "I haven't bitten something in forever!" Hunter sighed as he tossed his medals into the air. Spinax, S-raptor, and Delta roared onto the battlefield. Hunter recognized the bandits's vivosaurs: Carchar, megath, and lambeo.

"That dog is calling me pointy again!" Spinax growled louder than Hunter could order commands, "I'm not pointy! I'm just big spiked!"

"I really don't think this is what we should be talking about! Cyclone!" Spinax shot a tornado at lambeo and hit it square in the side. Delta ran around the slow

Moving megath in circles. S-raptor spewed fire at carchar, who whipped dirt everywhere to put out the fire. Lambeo released a flurry of punches to spinax, sending him flying across the room. Delta jumped on to megath's back and started biting down on it's neck. Carchar grabbed s-raptor in its jaws and pinned it to the ground. Spinax recovered quickly and roared in anger.

"That red guy is calling me pointy too!"

"Then do that thing you did in the pyramid," Hunter fondly remembered when spinax caused an explosion after being called pointy.

"That would be a great plan…if I knew how to do that,"

"….you are so disappointing sometimes,"

"Like fighter, like vivosaur."

"…"

"Ha! I win!" Spinax charged at carchar and knocked it off of s-raptor. The sinraptor repaid the favor by launching fire at lambeo, who was knocked over by the flame. Delta launched itself off megath and brought its foot down on lambeo's stomach, promptly knocking it out. Megath finally got around to moving and punched delta in the side.

"Counter!" A blue shield surrounded delta, the raptor attempted to run into one of the enemy vivosaurs so the counter would activate, but big sloth decided it wasn't a sloth anymore and moved too fast, and delta couldn't tell where Carchar ends and s-raptor begins. The Carcharadontosaurus roared so loud that small stones began floating off the ground.

"Wait, that's an attack!"

"YA THINK SO!?" Pointed Stones dug into spinax, s-raptor, and delta. S-raptor collapsed and disappeared. Spinax was barely hanging on. Delta's sheild exploded and hit megath.

"We're gonna need tweezers when we get back." Hunter saw spinax's point. The stones were dug into his skin.

"Wait, we can use that! Hit Carchar with a shoulder tackle!" Spinax grit his teeth in and rushed into carchar, the stones dug into both vivosaurs. Megath attempted to attack spinax, but delta delivered swift kick into it's face, followed by a cracking noise when delta bit down on its neck. Megath disappeared in a flash of light. Carchar attempted to break free but spinax kept pushing at the creature. Spinax opened his mouth and roared. A tornado fired straight into carchar's eye. The resulting gust of wind blew Hunter off his feet. When he got up again, Carchar was gone.

"Ugh! How did you even get here! We hid the tools!" Hunter answered Vivian's question with a simple shrug.

"Your guard wasn't very good at guarding," rex growled at Hunter, Hunter growled back. Vivian turned to her two cohorts.

"We're leaving."

"But what about the idol?"

"Would you rather have to deal with big ugly over there?" She gesture to spinax. Spinax said a few choice words that ruined his PG rating.

"We'll remember this, kid! And I'll stop you myself!" Snivels sneered. Hunter was about to correct his incorrect grammar (you can't start a sentence with and) when the bandits yelled "We're outta here!" And left quickly, taking a purple colored mine car back down the track.

"Those guys are weird," spinax mused.

"Weirder than us?"

"Good point." Hunter walked back over to where he was digging and unearthed….a tacky looking idol that was even more stupid looking than the other one he had.

"I take it back, they are weirder than us if they want this thing."

Done! NOOO! 925 and counting! Stop liking my stuff!

Hunter: keep going! Refresh refresh REFRESH!

You have some serious problems. Well, maybe this extra long chapter will keep them busy so they won't force me to reveal your past.

Hunter: I'm just reading chapter 1 over and over. It may be boring, but it's also the shortest chapter *wink*

*sigh* thanks for reading I guess…now stop reading!


	16. Chapter 15

Journey of the soul chapter 15

Hunter: …oh wait, it started. Um…Hi. Cross didn't show up for work today so I guess I'll be doing the intro, he did leave a copy of chapter 15 along with a half eaten Twix bar and a note that says "dear hunter: I'm going on a deep, spiritual journey of the soul. Post this chapter and don't let spinax in the mini fridge. No I will not share your past. Cross.

Spinax: dude! There's like, 70 Diet Cokes in here!

Hunter: I knew I was forgetting something! I'm owned by fossil fighters, which cross doesn't own. Enjoy!...psst. Spinax, how'd I do?

Spinax: WHY IS THERE VIDEO GAMES IN HIS FRIDGE?!

The sun is welcoming most of the time. In the morning, not so much. Hunter Cloud cursed not buying blinds as he begrudgingly awoke, the sound of snoring filled his ears. His roommate, Holt, was asleep on the couch. He never used his bed, but it wasn't his snoring that was so loud.

"WAKE UP!" The average person would wonder why Hunter would think those words, but Hunter is not an average person.

"Bwuh! What in the name of the revival machine is so important that you had to wake me up?!" Hunter tried to imagine spinax early in the morning. All he could come up with was a spinax with curlers in his spikes and that weird paint stuff on his face. (Hunter: it feels weird to be cutting in on the story. Usually cross does this. Anyway, can I request fanart of morning spinax?)

"So sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but I don't get to level up if my lead vivosaur is taking a nap!"

"Why are you so gung-ho about leveling up? As far as I can remember, I had to trick you into the first one and the second one was part of a redemption arc."

"…I just want to level up. That's all."

"That reply was about as stale as the granola bar in your backpack."

"Well, I heard that the fourth dig site is the bottom of a lagoon…"

"I KNEW IT! Why didn't ya say so? Weak water types to steamroll over like an angry god? That's my kind of Tuesday!" Hunter pulled on his regular clothes, made breakfast for himself, left an omelette in the microwave for holt, and made a note "kindly" reminding holt that it is his turn to do the dishes (WASH THE PLATES OR I WILL STEAMROLL YOU LIKE AN ANGRY GOD). Hunter set out with high hopes. Nothing was going to bring him down today.

"Did you seriously just jinx it again? This is the third time in two weeks!" Spinax groaned, "now some stupid, possibly hilarious, thing is going to happen to you!"

"Nothing bad is going to happen!" Hunter put his hands behind his head as he walked out of the hotel, "you need to learn how to-" what spinax needed to learn, we may never know. Hunter felt the back of his neck. His bare neck. No pendant.

"Are you kidding me?! Again!?" Hunter frantically searched the ground around the hotel. He had his pendant when he left the room, so it was either in the hotel or outside.

"Speaking of repeating things, isn't this like the fifth time you've lost this thing?" Hunter ignored spinax and kept searching. This led him to find that his pendant was nowhere to be found.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me?"

"That is an intriguing question, perhaps a reflection on your life choices is in order. Maybe this is karma for when you stuffed me under a bean bag."

"You deserved it." The conversation ended when spinax gasped and hunter looked up from the ground at the person standing fifty feet away.

"Fantastic!" Spinax groaned, "the claw was stolen by the hoods again!" Hunter stared down the hood, not blinking. The group that murdered his parents was staring him straight in the eye.

"What. Do. You. Want." Hunter's voice had turned cold.

"I simply came here to see if you had collected the second idol."

"I have no idea what you are talking ,"

"So you do have it in your possession. Good." Hunter tried to hide his surprise. How did these guys know about the tacky idols? Both of them were on Hunter's shelf, in his room!

"I see that you are confused. You needn't worry about such trivial things. You are serving you purpose."

"And what exactly is that purpose?"

"I thought I had taught you. Not to ask questions when I defeated you. Apparently not."

"I don't care about you or anyone stupid enough to work with you. Get out of my sight before I decide to take revenge for my parents." Hunter pulled out his pickax and held it menacingly.

Spinax interjected, "Hey! I thought you were gonna let me stomp him!"j

The hood appeared to be laughing, "Your reptilian friend is rather amusing. On the matter of the ones you believe gave birth to you, are you certain they are your bloodline?"

"…you need to shut up."

"I speak naught but truth. You are quite amusing when you don't realize the truth."

"GO AWAY."

"I will, but when I take my leave, another of my colleagues will take my occupation."

"…tell me what that job is and I might not kill you."

Spinax snorted in disbelief, "woah woah woah! We're supposed to be PG!" The hood, however, tossed something to hunter. He looked at what he caught, it was his pendant.

"You may have that back, we are finished with it. As for your question, the occupation is to watch over you of course," Hunter stood motionless. The hood chuckled again, "you call yourself Hunter, correct? Well then, farewell Hunter. Be polite to my colleague, this will be her first assignment." And with that, the hood left. Hunter immediately pulled the black tablet out of his backpack. All the previous reports were gone. One new one took their place.

Report 1: XX day of the XX month

I was appointed to watch over specimen x. My previous knowledge of it will be derived from my colleague who had the occupation in the past. Specimen x is what is known as a fossil fighter, a person who commands creatures known as vivosaurs. Its purpose is classified to someone such as myself but I am certain I will discover it soon. X appears to have something akin to emotions. My hypothesis is that this is a side effect of the testing. Amnesia is also a prevalent side effect. This will be the first time I have seen specimen x in a year.

"Well, at least now I know why I can't remember anything."

"Oh that's why? I just thought it was from all the Diet Coke." Hunter ignored spinax and thought about his course of action. He knew that the next hood would be a girl, although that might not be helpful to know.

"Can we focus on the task at hand?" Spinax groaned.

"Taking down the hoods?" Hunter asked.

"No, that's for another chapter, right now you should level up."

"Why? I'm this close to figuring out what they're planning."

"You have no idea."

"Yes, I do have no idea. Now let's go level up." Hunter made his way down to the fossil stadium and slid on his butt to the counter.

"Hunter: level three fighter with bad luck when it comes to making a normal entrance, " Tiffany smiled at Hunter from over the counter, "here for level up battles I presume?" Hunter smiled awkwardly and pushed him self off the ground. Ten minutes later, the loudspeaker called him to the arena.

"Just gotta win, that's all you have to do,"

"You also have to stop talking to yourself,"

"Can you at least be somewhat encouraging?"

"How's this? YAY! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"Thanks spinax, real helpful."

"Anytime buddy." Hunter walked down the all too familiar hallway to face the level three master. Needless to say, he was a little surprised when he saw who it was.

"Isn't it strange?" Spinax asked, "that you always meet the level master beforehand but you don't know it?"

"Hey there junior!" Mcjunker gave Hunter a friendly slap on the back. Hunter tried to smile but the searing pain wats making it difficult, "thanks for the help with my mine cars, but don't go thinkin' that I'll go easy on ya!" Hunter nodded in response.

"Wouldn't want it any other way,"

"We're still talking about the battle right?"

"…shut up spinax," Hunter got a sense of nostalgia as he slammed spinax's dino medal into the doorway to the stadium. The crowd roared with excitement. Hunter could tell why, there are Seven levels for fighters on vivosaur island. If he won, Hunter would be considered one of the better fighters on the island.

"Or you could be known as the fool who can't level up."

"I am seriously considering replacing you on the team,"

"No you're not,"

"….whatever." Hunter called out his vivosaurs. Delta, S-raptor, and spinax all appeared in a flash of light. Mcjunker's vivosaurs appeared soon after and glared at Hunter's team. His vivowatch told him the names of the vivosaurs: cerato, kentro, and stygi. The battle started when kentro started swinging its tail back and forth.

"Wind spines!" Bursts of green energy erupted from kentro's tail and hit spinax. Delta retaliated with a blast of water towards stygi. Meanwhile, cerato charged straight at s-raptor and delivered a headbutt that any pachycephalosaur would be proud of. Spinax was chasing his own tail.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing! This marshmallow is completely soaked!" …what? Hunter checked his vivowatch, spinax was confused.

"These cowboys have ridden their last shark!" Spinax fired a tornado into the air and slammed it's head to the ground. Delta charged at stygi, jaws open. Stygi charged as well. The two collided with a nasty crunching sound. Delta had a few teeth missing and stygi had a dent in its skull. Spinax had a dent in its skull too, but that was from running into a wall consecutively.

"The chocolate is breaking over the volcano! Quickly! To the refrigerator! We must hide with the salamanders!" Aside from giving himself brain damage, Hunter saw this as an improvement.

"Can you at least fire a cyclone?" Spinax made a noise that sounded like a yes. But instead of executing the command, he bit down on stygi and swung it around in his mouth.

"Round and round it goes! Spinning like a blanket in a mailbox!" Spinax stared at stygi like a cat would stare at a ball of yarn. Delta seized the moment and as soon as spinax stopped spinning stygi, it shot a jet of water straight forward. Hunter felt his hopes rise when stygi disappeared. S-raptor was struggling with cerato. The support effects from kentro were making the ceratosaurus difficult to deal with. Delta attempted to assist but kentro would fire wind spines at it. Spinax…..was scooting across the floor on his rear end.

"Look at me! I'm Hunter!"

"Are you still confused or are you just making fun of me?"

"Can the rail-spikes grease the mosasaur?" Spinax started chasing his tail again, wind started whipping around him. Hunter vaguely remembered when spinax would make fun of other vivosaurs for doing strange things while confused. S-raptor dug its feet into the ground, flames frothed out of its mouth. Delta rushed at kentro, dodging the incoming green energy spirals.

"Blitz attack!" A veil of water surrounded delta as it collided with kentro, knocking it towards spinax. That's when Hunter noticed Something. The wind that spinax was making picked kentro up slightly before it hit the ground. Hunter looked over at s-raptor and cerato, still locked in combat. Hmm…

"Delta! S-raptor! Knock cerato towards spinax!" Hunter's vivosaurs gave him a look that said: "Are you drunk?". He even caught an eye roll from s-raptor. Still, the raptors executed the command flawlessly. Cerato was knocked towards Hunter's bumbling third vivosaur and got caught in the swirling winds. Hunter silently questioned how spinning in circles could cause a tornado as he watched cerato fly through the air. Unfortunately…cerato landed on delta.

"Sorry about that buddy," Hunter said to the dino medal that reappeared in his holder, "we'll win this for ya."

"Yeah! What the gorilla said!" Hunter knew spinax was trying to be helpful, but he also knew that the confusion had worn off by now and spinax just called him a gorilla.

"What? I had to add some sort of comedy to this fight." Hunter replied by sending spinax a less than pleasant mental image. At least cerato had been defeated. Meanwhile, s-raptor charged at kentro and fired a jet of flame at the stegosaur.

"Whirling dash!" Kentro curled it self into a ball and began rolling through the flames. Spinax attempted to knock kentro over, butt the spinning spikes were proving difficult to maneuver around. S-raptor took the attack with gritted teeth and was knocked back. Spinax waited for the moment when kentro stopped spinning and grabbed its tail.

"If you have a plan, now would be the time to tell me!" Spinax grunted in pain, "this guy is pointier than me!"

"So you admit that you're pointy?"

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME POINTY!" Spinax fired a Cyclonic breath out of his mouth…while still holding on to kentro. When spinax let go, Hunter got a brief glimpse of a kentro without a tail before it disappeared. That image haunted him when he collected his level 4 fighters license from Mcjunker.

"You surprise me junior!" Mcjunker gave hunter another stinging slap on the back, "You're half the size and twice the talent of most fighters here!" Hunter smiled and waved as Mcjunker walked off, then he held his sore back and made a face of agony.

"Hey Hunter!" Hunter turned and saw Rosie walking towards him, "did you level up?"

"Take a guess." Hunter proudly showed off his shiny new fighters license.

"Wow! You're always one step ahead of me. I swear I'm gonna pass you one day!"

"Yeah right." Spinax scoffed, Hunter didn't say anything, but you could tell who he agreed with.

"Oh, that reminds me. Can you help me with something? Can your grandfather take a look at this?" He pulled the round tacky idol out of his backpack.

"Wait, I thought we left that at home." Spinax sounded like he had a raised eyebrow, "how did we get it?"

"Through a little something called plot convenience."

"Fair enough." Rosie picked up the idol and nodded. She walked out of the common room and Hunter sat down on a bench, thinking about the situation he was in. Little did he know, a pair of sharp yellow eyes were watching him.

Hunter: uh... done? I guess this is were Cross would ask a question.

Spinax: can we do something else? How about if the viewers ask us questions and we answer a few in the next chapter!

Hunter: that….is actually a good idea. As long as it's not about my past. We're only at 979 views….oh yeah, thanks for reading!...did I do good spinax?

Spinax: Don't quit your day job.


	17. Chapter 16

Journey of the soul chapter 16

Does anyone want to explain to me why my mini fridge is empty? Anyone?

Hunter and spinax:…..

Well then, I guess I can just let horrible things happen to you for the rest of the story.

Hunter: you can't do that.

And why can't I? Tell me, I'm DYING to know.

Hunter: take a look at our view count.

…HOLY SH-

Hunter: Cross doesn't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!...I think I'm getting better at this!

Hold on, I said I would share your past at 1000 views, but I didn't say when (for the record, I was going to say holy shoni)

Hunter:…just start the stupid chapter.

"Can you hear me now?"

"What? You want my cow?" Hunter shook his head and pulled the diving helmet off his head. He had been practicing how to speak underwater with holt the entire morning. So far their progress has been…less than great, to say the least.

"Maybe you could get one of those fancy new diving suits," Holt suggested, "those work a lot better than the helmets that the fossil center hands out."

"One problem with that, I'm not made of money." Hunter wondered if he could sell anything to scrape up enough cash.

"You could sell your soul, I hear that the devil is running low on those," Spinax suggested, "then again, you probably won't get much money for something as cheap as that."

"I liked you better when you were confused."(Cross: Hunter gave me a list of questions I have to answer in the chapter. I don't know why, but I'm going with it.)

"This is what you get for waking me up at 4 in the morning! FACE MY PRIMORDIAL, and slightly drowsy, WRATH!"

"Whatever," after a few more failed attempts to speak with the diving helmet on, Holt had to leave for his apprenticeship. Hunter blissfully remembered when dig sites weren't at the bottom of a lagoon and he didn't have to wear scuba gear.

"Weren't you excited about this the other day?" Spinax reminded him. Hunter sighed, packed up his digging supplies, and set out for the day. The sun was shining bright and the sky was a clear blue. Too bad he wouldn't see much of it today. Hunter checked his vivowatch. It was 9:12. He would have to wait a bit. In the meantime, Hunter checked his vivosaurs stats. Spinax was rank 7, s-raptor is rank 5, and delta is rank 6. Hunter made a quick trip to the guild area and bought a few packets of food (just add water). Spinax fell asleep as he boarded the boat to the dig site: bottomsup bay. They boat darted through the water for a good 15 minutes before stopping in the middle of the sea. When Hunter looked closer, he could see that there was land all around the boat.

Of course, he thought to himself, the dig site is under. Hunter strapped the diving helmet on his head, remarked how it looked a bit like an angler fish, and was about to jump into the water when captain travers stopped him.

"Hold on there kid," the captain looked strangely serious, "I should warn you that denture sharks roam these waters. They got sharp false teeth." Hunter thought that sharks with dentures was the stupidest thing he ever heard. He was about to ask if the captain was pulling his leg, but he slipped and fell into the water.

"WHAAAARGH!" It wasn't Hunter who was yelling, "WHYYYYYYY?!" Hunter slowly drifted down to the sea floor, which was covered in coral and strange rocks. As difficult as it was to move through water, that was the least of his problems. Spinax had woken up from his nap and was extremely not in the mood for "whatever crap you did to get ditched in the middle of the ocean"

"I didn't get ditched, this is the dig site."

"What? You got pitched in a pig fight?"

"We both know that you can hear me,"

"And you can't hear the shark behind you." Hunter looked behind him and saw a purple shark with giant teeth charging at him.

"WHOOOAAAH!" Hunter jumped up and zoomed past his legs, he was still floating upwards when the shark came at him again. Hunter tried to swim out of the way, but the shark hit him in the side. Hunter waited for the pain of jaws snapping him in half, but it didn't come. He only felt the bruise forming from We're the shark hit him. Hunter looked over at the shark and saw that it appeared to be straining.

"Its teeth are too big! It can't open its mouth!"

"Duh, did you think I would just casually mention a shark if it was dangerous?" Hunter was getting tired of sleep deprived spinax really fast. The shark looked at Hunter and was about to charge again, until it saw Hunter pull out his pickax. Apparently, the shark was smart enough to know that Hunter had a sharp object that he could actually use. It swam away quickly.

"Wow, who knew that sharks run from things that are uglier that they are."

"Can you please at least try to be nicer? I didn't get much sleep either you know."

"Yeah, but you chose to wake up, And I woke up when you sat on me so who has the right to be angry?" Hunter and spinax continued arguing as Hunter moved through the bay, unearthing fossils as he went. Eventually the argument stopped and spinax agreed to be nicer when Hunter threatened to abandon him at the bottom of the ocean. That's when he heard the scream.

"AAAAAAHHHH! HEEEEEELP MMMEEEEEE!"

"What the revival machine was that?" Hunter looked around and saw what looked like a girl being surrounded by denture sharks. Hunter thought that this was funny considering that the girl is scared of sharks that can't bite, but then he saw who the girl was.

"Leave it to Rosie to be surrounded by sharks that can't bite and still be scared." Hunter smacked his diving helmet.

"That girl has worse luck than we do," spinax remarked, "perhaps assistance is required good sir,"

"Ah, I see that your accents are making a comeback,"

"But of course. Now, to the young woman's aid, if you please." Hunter slowly snuck around the denture sharks near him. His bruise from earlier still stung and he didn't want to go through that again. The denture sharks just watched Rosie scream over and over so he didn't have much trouble.

"Excuse me good sir, but perhaps a more effective plan would be this." Spinax detached from Hunter's holder and rolled his medal right next to Rosie. Then he transformed into a vivosaur. Needless to say, the sharks ran like scared minnows.

"Thanks for the help!" Rosie waved at Hunter as he recalled spinax, "I'm Rosie, what's your name?" Rosie was wearing a bright pink diving helmet that looked like a manta ray and apparently, impaired vision.

"It's me, Hunter."

"Gunter? That's an odd name." Hunter smacked his helmet again, "well Gunter. Since you helped me out, I'll let you come with me to find a pirate ship!"

"Pirate ship?"

"That kind of language really isn't necessary. Anyway, the legendary captain Woolbeard's pirate ship is said to be somewhere in this bay! Just imagine what kind of treasures are in it!" Hunter thought about it for a moment. Hidden treasure? Sunken pirate ship? Count him in.

"Oh sure, don't even ask what I think," spinax groaned, "what do I have to do to get some respect around here?" Hunter ignored spinax and followed Rosie to a small outcrop in the bay filled with strange blue rocks. Hunter looked around, swam up to the top, drifted back to the bottom, and still couldn't find any trace of anything. Frustrated, Hunter leaned against a rock and picked up a handful of sand, he let it trickle through his fingers.

"What's up with you?" Spinax asked, "usually you're a little more….chaotic that's this,"

"I…just don't know what I'm doing anymore."

"Your sitting down in the bottom of a lake."

"That's not what I meant," Hunter took out his backpack (thank the revival machine for water proofing) and pulled out one of his food packets. The crackers were a little soggy.

"I find out that my parents might not even be my parents, some psychotic organization is watching me, and I've been tested in the past. I can't even focus on something else for half a chapter."

"I appreciate the fourth wall break, but you need to learn how to just roll with things."

"How? How can I possibly just accept that?"

"I accepted that I was killed 78 million years ago and was brought back from the dead with the ability to puke out tornadoes. I accept that you can hear my thoughts and I can hear yours. I accept that I have to fight dinosaurs like me for a living. And if a lizard brain like me can do it, then a crazy kid like you can too."

"Wow, that was….pretty deep. Thanks spinax."

"No problem, I do wedding speeches too as long as beer is involved. Now, maybe you should move before you fall." Hunter hadn't noticed that the rock he was leaning against was moving. He stood up and turned. That's when he saw it, a hole under the rock. Excited, he called Rosie over ("what do you mean you pound a pole?") and pushed the rock the rest of the way aside. A hole about twice the size of his waist was revealed. He couldn't see a bottom, it was pitch black.

"Well, what are we waiting for!" Rosie excitedly jumped in. Hunter nervously followed her. He drifted down for a long time. There were only two colors in the trench: dark and really dark. Hunter was pretty sure he had fallen asleep on the way down. Finally, he saw light and was greeted by a fantastic sight. A massive pirate ship, sails and all.

"Hey Gunter!" Hunter looked down and saw Rosie by a hole in the hull of the ship. He slowly drifted down and joined her as they walked into the pirate ship. Hunter immediately felt heavier when he entered, and some some reason everything didn't have a watery hue. He slowly removed his helmet and his suspicions were confirmed, the ship had fresh air in it.

"There's air in here! Fresh air! How strange." Rosie removed her own diving helmet, "Wait, Hunter?!" Hunter once again smacked his head and explained the situation.

"Why didn't you just unlock the visor? It let's sound travel that way and still keeps water out."

"…son of a spinosaurus."

"Well, since you're here, let's take a look around!" They went from room to room. The wooden floor creaked with every step. Hunter found a small chest and popped it open. Inside was a pair of sapphires. He liked them, they were the same color as his eyes.

"I've been meaning to ask," spinax said, "why are your eyes that color? I'm pretty sure that's not normal, even for you."

"I…don't know, but I like 'em" Hunter stuffed the sapphires in his pocket. Rosie found a diamond the size of Hunter's head, and last but not least, a mask made of solid gold.

"I don't know much about this Woolbeard guy, but he sure had a thing for shiny stuff." Hunter almost cracked his ribs from trying not to laugh at Rosie in the mask.

"Well then this room should be really shiny," Rosie took of the mask and pointed at a pair of doors with an intricate design on them, "that should be captain Woolbeard's private quarters!" The doors were opened to reveal an average looking room. There was a map on the back wall, a globe and piece of paper on the desk, and a few barrels in the back that smelled strongly of beer. It was a normal looking room, but Hunter couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Aw, come on! No treasure in the captain's room?" Rosie stood by the desk and started banging her fist on it.

"Uh, Rosie? I don't think you should do that." Too late. As if on cue, a cloud of smoke erupted from behind the desk. Rosie jumped back with a yelp and Hunter moved next to Rosie to get a better view. When the smoke cleared. The strangest sight stood before him.

"WOOoOOOooooLy WoooOOOoooOOOooooOOly WOOOooOooooOO!" (Cross: man, that was hard to type on a tiny phone) what could only be described as a ghost pirate was behind the desk. It was pure white with an eyepatch, pirate jacket, and a beard that knows no bounds. Rosie laughed while Hunter stood there with his jaw wide open.

"Man, I really do need some sleep, I've started seeing ghost pirates that don't know the difference between uppercase and lowercase."

"Spinax? I can see it too…"

"Well….crap." Rosie seemed way too calm.

"It's Woolbeard's ghost! Cool!"

"Are we seriously just gonna accept this? That's a motherfukiraptoring ghost!" (Cross: really working for that T rating…fukiraptor is a real dinosaur, no I did not just want an excuse to use that line.)

"Avast ye landlubbers! I gotta a mission for ye!" The ghost…can talk.

"The vivosaur….can talk,"

"Shut up spinax."

"Find me' beard ribbon!" Woolbeard's ghost did a quick twirl, "me' beard ribbon is very important. Without it, me' beard becomes unruly and, even worse, unfashionable." The ghost did have a point, his beard was untidier than Hunter's hair.

"Hold on, why should find this ribbon?" Rosie put her hands on her hips, "who do you think you are ordering us around, some guy in a hat?" Hunter was about to point out that Rosie is some girl in a hat, but Woolbeard interrupted him.

"Find me' beard ribbon and you two scalawags can have some of me' treasure. Are ye' interested in that?" Hunter was strongly reminded of the incident in digadig village when Rosie's eyes turned into dollar signs.

"Yes! We'll help out! Right Hunter?"

"Yeah sure, I've got nothing else to do,"

"Good. WOOooooOOly WoooooOoOooly WooOooOooOooOoO!" And with that, Woolbeard disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Hunter felt like he had had enough crazy for today and turned to leave, but the door was shut. A locking noise echoed throughout the room.

"Well, this is a fine pickle we've gotten ourselves into." Spinax's commentary wasn't helpful. Hunter ran to the door and tried to push it open, but to no avail. That's when he heard voices from the other side of the door.

"Ha! Let's see em' try to get outta that one!" The voice was followed by barking. Hunter slammed his head against the wall. Why. Just why. Why are the B.B. bandits here and what in the name of spinax's left foot do they want.

"Hey! Let us out!" Rosie had ran over to the door and started banging her fists against it. She ran back to the deal and started to try a call back captain Woolbeard. Hunter took a few steps back and whipped out his pickax.

"That's not going to work." Spinax said a little too late. The pickax hit the door and sent a vibration through Hunter's entire body. But when the vibrating stopped, he still heard a noise. Coming from the door.

"I believe it would be in your best interest to take a step to the right." Hunter follow spinax's instructions, And it was a good thing he did. The door blew open and Hunter would've been hit by a wood plank the size of his leg if he hadn't moved. From the rubble, a girl walked out.

"Does anyone else hear a harp?" Spinax asked. The girl looked to be Hunter's age. She had a long white dress and long blonde hair. She had markings around her eyes that looked like birthmarks. Around her neck was a deep blue pendant.

"Wow. She's really pretty," spinax remarked.

"Yeah, She is- Wait wha-"

"Ha! You admitted it! Turtle dove is back!" Hunter silently groaned.

"Thank you!" Rosie ran up to the girl and smiled, "I thought I was gonna be a fossil myself by the time someone found us!" She outstretched her hand, but the girl shook her head.

"Make no mistake. I am not here to help you nor harm you. I simply came here to do a survey of this room." The girl walked around the quarters, stopping to examine the map in the back. Hunter didn't know what to do.

"Well, this is usually where you introduce yourself and then you-"

"Shut up spinax." The girl turned to leave, but Rosie stopped her.

"Hang on, we should at least introduce ourselves." Before Hunter could protest, Rosie grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him over.

"I'm Rosie! Mr. tough guy over here is Hunter." The girl shifted her gaze over to Hunter and he felt shivers run down his spine. Her bright yellow eyes were kind of intimidating.

"My name is Duna,"

Done! Ah, finally. We get to my favorite character. Duna is actually kind of important to the plot. (No spoilers)

Hunter: that's fine with me

I'm sure it is turtle dove. Just remember that her eyes are up here.

Hunter: Hey! What do you mean by that?!

You know what I mean. Anyway, I might not be able to update for a while because I'm going on a trip to…somewhere. Thanks for reading!


	18. Chapter 17

Journey of the soul chapter 17

Gotta say, I have no idea what to do in this intro

Hunter: you have no idea what to do in general.

Hey! I have a life you know!

Hunter: you just spent the last twenty minutes building a t-rex out of legos and dusting your video games. You have no life. You don't even own fossil fighters.

…I figured out what I'm going to do!

Hunter: what? Tell me? Anything's better than listening you mope about how your ex-girlfriend cheated on you with one of your friends.

I'm going to BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!

Hunter: revival machine have mercy.

"Captain Woolbeard's not gonna like that." Hunter inspected that damage on the ghost pirate's door. It looked as if an angry t-rex had ran straight through it. He was surprised that one girl was able to inflict so much damage.

"Pretty and strong!" Spinax stated, "you really know how to pick 'em turtle dove!" Hunter rolled his eyes and regretted letting slip to spinax that he thought Duna was cute. Still, how had she managed to break down the door? He pondered this as Rosie dragged him out of the pirate ship and across the seabed.

"C'mon Hunter!" Rosie was now trying to swim up and drag him at the same time, "my grandad is bound to know something about this beard ribbon!" Hunter didn't know if Rosie was implying that her grandfather is smart enough to know about the ribbon, or old enough to know about.

"Perhaps a bit of both, good sir,"

"You really need to start switching up your accents spinax,"

"Crikey mate! Didn't realize you were such a bloater!"

"Australian?"

"Nien nien nien!"

"German?"

"Hyet! Hyah! Heeyah!"

"Hyrulean? Or is it hylian?"

"Man, your good at this." The boat ride back was filled with a number of accents and a few impressions. Rosie decided that Hunter could walk on his own when they reached the island. After a quick stop for a bandage, Hunter followed Rosie into the Richmond building.

"Grandad!" Mr. Richmond turned to see Rosie walk out of the elevator, followed by Hunter who was putting a bandage on his cheek. There were a number of sharp rocks on the sea floor.

"Ah, Rosetta and Hunter, what a nice surprise. What can do for you two?" Hunter ducked and snickered at the same time as Rosie tried to hit him for laughing at her name.

"Grandad, do you know anything about a beard ribbon?"

"Of course, I remember owning the beard ribbon of a famous pirate! What was his name again? Cottonwhiskers?"

"Woolbeard?"

"Yes that's it!"

"Can we have this beard ribbon mr. Richmond?"

"I'd love to give it to you Hunter, but I know longer have this ribbon in my possession. Traded it away,"

"Of course he doesn't," spinax snorted, "Because it's NEVER that easy, never!"

"Mr. Richmond, do you remember who you traded it to?"

"Of course! His name is Nick Nack. He lives in the hotel. Just be wary if you're going to bargain with him, he is a bit…odd.

"Sounds like you two will get along great," Hunter couldn't tell if Rosie or spinax said that, it sounded like both. At any rate, before he could thank Mr. Richmond Hunter felt a hand grabbed his wrist. Apparently, Rosie didn't think he could walk to the place were he lives either.

"Great, someone getting you to where you need to go," spinax stated, "we don't want another chapter one on our hands."

"Hey! We're not supposed to talk about- ow!"

"What?"

"Who left this rock on the ground?!"

"Wow, this is a nice hotel," Rosie remarked when they arrived.

"I know, I LIVE HERE." After a quick check with the manager, Hunter learned which room Nick Nack was in. Rosie finally figured out that Hunter knew his way around and let him go. The door to Nick Nack's room loomed over them.

(Cross: warning, massive idiocy ahead)

As soon as Hunter opened the door, he noticed the smell of…Mexican spices?

"Bonjour!"

"Dear lord!" Spinax yelled, "what in the name of the revival machine is that!" Hunter explains what it was. A man wearing a mask, while also wearing feathers like a peacock. Nick Nack was dressed in all red, but wore a bright blue belt…for some reason. Yep, spinax's reaction was justified.

"Ah! Mademoiselle Rosie and monsieur Hunter. Monsieur Richmond told me you were coming! Oh yes he did!" Rosie stood there with her jaw open, Hunter tried not to move. He was afraid he had already cracked two ribs trying not to laugh. He could tell why they called him

Nick Nack. The room was filled with a number of oddities from a totem pole to a sandal covered in stone.

"um, Yeah. Mr. Richmond told you what we're here for right?"

"Of course monsieur! You wish to possess my beard ribbon."

"Yeah! So can we have it?" Rosie seemed a little too hopeful.

"Of the things I want. There are three. Bring me those three things and I will give you the beard ribbon…for those three things."

"Three?!" Hunter felt cheated out.

"The beard ribbon is very valuable."

"Ugh..fine,"

"Mercy Bee comb! Grassy us! Donkey shakes!" Nick Nack did a little dance in a circle. Spinax sent a mental image of him doing the same dance.

"Where do you get those ideas?"

"Somewhere between my conscious and that little voice in my head that tells me that I'm fighting for an idiot."

"I regret asking."

"I don't!" Hunter took out spinax's dino medal, and sat down to listen to what Nick Nack wanted.

"Ey! Mwha!"

"Who regrets it now?" Nick Nack finally finished his dance.

"So…uh," Rosie asked, "what exactly do you want?"

"A molted bug shell of course!" Dear god what is wrong with this man, "more specific ally, a molted shell of a fossil bug!"

"Wait, I've heard about those," Of course she has, "they live in Knotwood Forest!" Hunter thought about this. Knotwood Forest…that would mean.

"Oh no, nononononononononononono." He continued to deny it as Rosie dragged him down to the dock.

"I don't get What your so afraid of," spinax remarked as hunter said his 500th no, "is there someone that-….. Nononononononononononononono," too late, they were already on the boat. While Hunter had no idea what Rosie's plan was, he had a pretty good idea. There was only one person who knew enough about Knotwood Forest. The same guy who asked Hunter to drive thieves out of a pyramid and gave no reward.

"Rosie, please don't say-"

"That we're going to digadig village? Sorry Hunter." Never In his life has Hunter struggled so much. Rosie had an iron cast grip and despite his best efforts, Hunter couldn't break out of this prison.

"Help! Police! Secret service! FBI! Crazy girl that breaks down doors! Help!" Spinax had lost what little sanity he had. Hunter sighed with despair as his face dragged against the all too familiar dirt of Knotwood Forest.

"At least we go down kicking," spinax was right about that. Hunter was kicking his shoes into the dirt to try and slow down the inevitable. Eventually, Rosie stopped and for a moment, Hunter thought that he might have escaped.

"What kind of dog is that?" Dog? Nope, no escape, just another problem. Rosie finally let go and Hunter saw Rex, the stupid dog that trapped him in the ship.

"Dear revival machine! Do these guys ever give up?" Spinax moaned, "this is like the third time we have to send them packing!" Rex seemed pretty surprised to see them, it was even more surprised when Hunter charged at it with a pickax.

"GROWL AT THIS!" The dog barely escaped getting hit with the pickax. Three dino medal flew into the air and Rex's vivosaurs came out. A megath, nodo, and…Zino. Bad memories resurfaced.

"Put me in coach!" Spinax was yelling so loud Hunter couldn't hear what Rosie was saying, "revenge is calling my name!"

"You realize that this zino isn't the same one right?"

"Don't care! MUST HAVE REVENGE!" Spinax's dino medal popped out of Hunter's holder a rolled forward. Hunter called out his other vivosaurs as spinax appeared. As soon as the battle started, spinax charged at zino and head butted it. S-raptor tried to shoot fire at megath, but it was blocked by nodo. Delta ran behind megath, dodging gusts of wind from nodo, and launched itself onto the sloth's back. Hunter checked The stats of the opposing vivosaurs and was surprised to find that Zino's accuracy was laughably pitiful. As if too prove his point, zino swiped at spinax and missed spectacularly.

"Is this guy drunk?" Spinax had a point. Of course this made Hunter wonder, why did the hood's zino land every attack? Spinax grabbed zino by the neck and swung it around before a snapping sound filled the air.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Karma is a cruel mistress my friend, the wind blows the way it does. And sometimes, that wind is accompanied by my teeth because THAT EXCUSE OF A LIZARD HAD IT COMING" Man, that dinosaur needs some therapy. Megath drove its fist into s-raptor's stomach. The sudden movement mad delta fall. Unfortunately, it fell on top of nodo. Nodo tried to shake delta off, but the raptor dug it's claws into nodo's shell and refused to let go. Spinax turned away as zino was defeated and charged at megath, knocking it away from S-raptor. The sinraptor took advantage of this and shot a fireball at the ground near nodo. This caused the ankylosaur to rear away from the flames, leaving its underside exposed. Delta got in a few slashes before nodo got back on all of its feet. Meanwhile, megath and spinax were trading blows. Every punch was met with a headbutt.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Spinax had just slammed its head into megath so hard that it knocked them both over.

"Ah, this takes me back to when I was fighting another one of me 78 million years ago,"

"How'd that go for ya?"

"She became my wife and we had two kids."

"Wait…WHAT?!"

"I have a life outside of you ya know!"

"Hahahahahahahaha….no you don't"

"The truth is indeed painful, but not as painful as this!" Spinax grabbed megath's fist and pulled it to the ground. All it took was a stomp and the sloth was defeated. And with s-raptor and delta basically kicking the crap out of nodo, Hunter claimed victory. Nodo fell to the ground, defeated. Tax ran away with his tail between his legs.

"That dog stood on two legs," Rosie muttered, "dogs aren't supposed to do that." Hunter felt as if this were the perfect moment to escape, but Rosie grabbed his wrist and dragged him across the gate of digadig village. "What kind of Digadog can stand on two legs? That's just plain digadisturbing digadig….." it was one of those moments when you realize one important thing way too late. Hunter Didn't even care that it hurt when he was let go, this was too funny.

"It appears to me that there is an impending explosion. Perhaps you should move, my good sir," spinax was right. Rosie was about to scream, and because of a speech problem no less. Hunter took a few steps back, then streaked away before the bomb went off.

"Ah, Hunter and Rosie digadig. To what digado I owe the pleasure?" The chieftain was nice enough not to ask why Rosie's face was red and why Hunter's ears were bleeding.

"A uh….friend of ours really wants a molted shell of a fossil bug. Do you know anything about how to get one!"

"Of course digadig! We use the shells as toboggans when it is coldiga." The chieftain did his weird dance which involved shaking his hips back and forth, "I know a sacrediga ceremony that will make the bugs molt their shells digadig!"

"Forget that!" Rosie threw her hands to her sides, smacking Hunter in the process, "how digado I get rid of this digadang spell digadig?!" The chieftain chuckled.

"I digadon't know how to reverse the spell. As the kids say: you have to digadeal with it," Hunter couldn't tell if he or spinax was laughing louder.

"I forget why we don't like this guy," spinax did have a point. The chieftain hasn't done anything strange…yet.

"So, What's this sacred ceremony?"

"A molting ceremony of the highest magnitude digadig! The hip shaker dance!" Aaaaand We're back to crazy. Hunter was okay with doing the strange dance, but all the vivosaurs in the world wouldn't convince rosie to even think about it.

"Like this digadig." Hunter mimicked the strange dance he had seen the chieftain do many times. he felt completely ridiculous.

"Right you are pal!" Spinax howling with laughter wasn't very encouraging either. Back and forth. Back and forth. Eventually, the largest beetle Hunter had ever seen popped out of the ground. According to the chieftain, the fossil bug senses the vibrations of the hip shaker dance. Yeah right. He felt more subconscious than ever. Was something watching him?

"Only the camera Rosie's holding," spinax said.

"Wait, What?!"

"can't stop now buddy!" Hunter sighed. Finally, the shell around the bug cracked and was left behind when the fossil bug dug back into the ground.

"This'll work, thanks chieftain!" Hunter tossed the molted shell to Rosie, who had to drop her camera to catch it. Hunter grabbed the camera and bolted. As he was running away from Rosie while deleting videos on her camera, Hunter caught a flash of white disappearing behind the chieftain's Hut.

"What was that?"

"Well this is what's called the teaser for the next chapter," spinax explained, "Cross is going through a phase. There's one of these in the past five chapters."

"Makes sense."

Done! Man, I feel like I'm forgetting something.

Hunter: (on the ground with a black eye) ugh….you forgot to say…

Oh yeah! I'm going to a video game world championship so I might not update for a while. For the question of the day, should I switch around Hunter's team? Delta and s-raptor are the vivosaurs I used in my first playthrough, but I'm open to suggestions.

Hunter: e…ex

No, you can't have a t-rex. Thanks for reading!


	19. Chapter 18

Journey of the soul chapter 18

Hey Hunter, do you think we'll ever get fossil fighters 4?

Hunter: wait, there's more than one game?

…yes, there are more than one game. And I own none of them. How do you not know this?

Hunter: is the sequel that is game that's on your shelf?

Which game? TELL ME!

Hunter: ha! Gotcha!

…(sobbing in a corner) …you made me drop my calzone in excitement….I was gonna eat that….my mom made it.

Hunter: Cross? You still on earth?

….my calzone…..my precious calzone…

Spinax: looks like our author is out for the count. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter!

Hunter: I'll get the defibrillators.

"You want a what?" Hunter Cloud was a strange person, but even he had a problem with this. After bringing back the molted fossil bug shell for Nick Nack, he surprised Hunter and Rosie yet again with his second request.

"A sandal fossil Of course! Now get to it! Lime's a bastin' people!"

"Wait. There's no such thing as a sandal fossil!" Rosie was right, "what kind of joke is this?"

"I've got a joke!" Spinax interrupted, "two drums and a cymbal fall off a cliff…think about it for a sec." Hunter laughed internally, and nearly choked when he saw what Nick Nack had brought out.

"Behold! The sandal fossil!" There were no other words to describe. Protruding from the rock Nick Nack was holding was a sandal that had a layer of rock over it. The sandal was fossilized.

"…huh?" Was all Hunter could think to say.

"As you can see, I have the left sandal, so I need the right sandal. Cop to it!" Nick Nack did his strange dance again and Hunter and Rosie were forced to leave to avoid being hit by a waving arm.

"Where in the world did he find a piece of junk like that?" Rosie asked, "and how did that sandal get fossilized?"

"Was being a hipster with socks and sandals a trend started by the caveman?" spinax pondered, "does that mean the hipsters are being mainstream? Wouldn't that make us the hipsters?" While spinax thought about these eternal questions, Hunter did some thinking of his own. Junk, where would something as strange as that be buried? Somewhere where there are just a bunch of strange things in the ground like a tire or a boot…or a place that's supposed to have rare fossils.

"That's it!" Hunter snapped his fingers, "the junk area in greenhorn plains!"

"Hunter, why are you-…," Rosie paused, "oh my god you're right for once!"

"For once?" Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry dear Watson, spinax said in his British accent, "we'll have solved this case soon enough." Hunter sighed as Rosie dragged him back down to the docks. It was way too early for this. 2:55 is not recommended scrape time. The boat ride was silent, but internally Hunter was wondering if he'd run into the B.B. bandits again.

"I'm sorry, but the software you are using is not compatible with this system."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Spinax gave no explanation as they moved through greenhorn plains. For some reason, his sonar wasn't working. The junk area was just up ahead.

"Hey Hunter," Rosie drew his attention to someone in the distance, "who's that?" Hunter squinted and saw a silhouette digging in the ground. He couldn't see any defining features other than the fact that they were eating a really big French fry. Either that or they had a….really….big…..nose.

"Is early retirement an option?" Spinax asked, "I hear that the Caliosteo islands are fantastic this time of year."

"I don't think so. But all the same, this is going to be really tedious and time consuming. Almost like something you would see in a video game." Hunter walked up and tapped snivels on the shoulder. He didn't look over.

"Beat it, I'm looking for fossils."

"What kind of fossils mister?" Hunter did his best to sound like a little kid.

"A rare fossil. In fact, the one I'm looking for is two of a kind,"

"Wow mister! That's really cool! One question though."

"What?"

"Is my fake voice really that good, or are you just really dense," Snivels turned to see Hunter staring down at him with a pickax above his head, "now, about this rare fossil."

"Dear revival machine, what made you go psycho? Usually this doesn't happen until later. Stick to the script people!" Spinax aside, a fossil battle ensued. Snivels called out his vivosaurs and immediately something was wrong.

"Does anyone want to tell me why the Loch Ness monster is floating?" Hunter was too shocked to ask about how spinax knew about the Loch Ness monster. His vivowatch beeped. Aside from Snivels using his usual carchar and a lambeo, this vivosaur has flippers and plesiosaur outline. The vivowatch said it was called futabi.

"That carchar is giving you the stink eye," Hunter gulped. Spinax was right, the carchar was staring at him. Did it remember-

"Yes, it probably remembers that you called it dumber than poop," spinax clarified. Hunter called out his own vivosaurs and the battle began. Immediately, carchar charged forward and knocked spinax over. It fired a spray off dirt, but it wasn't aimed at Spinax.

It was aimed at Hunter.

"I'm not having a good day," no time to move, the sandstorm was soon upon him, ripping his clothes and getting in his socks. Typical stuff that sand does. When it was over, Hunter stuck his tongue out at carchar, who was making a noise that sounded like laughter.

"You're gonna pay for that, clothes aren't cheap ya know! You owe me twenty bucks!"

"Dude, you're talking to a dinosaur," spinax said.

"…your point?"

"Don't you think that it's a little strange?"

"Pot, meet kettle,"

"What do you mean by that?"

"…you're a dinosaur,"

"…..oh yeah….touché good sir," spinax charged at futabi and grabbed it by its tail. Futabi snaked it's Neck backwards and bit down on spinax's back, forcing him to let go. S-raptor charged at carchar and shot a fireball at it. The flames licked at Carchar's feet as it charged towards s-raptor. The two locked and tried to push one another down. Delta began circling lambeo, firing jets of water while keeping its distance to avoid being punched. Lambeo launches itself into the air and came down causing a shock wave, delta jumped just in time, but spinax was shaken up and fell…onto futabi who wasn't affected because it was floating. Both s-raptor and carchar were shaken up and both fell to the ground.

"Yee-haw!" Spinax was now riding on top of futabi like it was a bucking bronco, "that's how we do it down south!"

"I feel like you just insulted someone with that line."

"Probably, people will get offended at the drop of a hat nowadays,"

"How offended do you think cross's viewers would be if I said frontier was the best game (cross: Don't you dare)." Spinax dug his teeth into futabi's neck and forced it to the ground. Delta abandoned lambeo and rushed at futabi, delivering a kick to the head. Futabi was knocked out. Meanwhile, s -raptor and carchar were struggling to recover from the shaking ground. Carchar was the first to get up and it grabbed s-raptor in its massive jaws. S-raptor breathed fire everywhere while struggling to escape, but to no avail. Lambeo unleashed a flurry of punches at spinax and delta so they could not get over to help. S-raptor was crushed in the jaws of carchar and reappeared as a medal on Hunter's holder.

"Crap, down a vivosaur and my strongest is weak against his strongest,"

"Did you just call me weak?!"

"…..(insert evil laugh here) why yes I did, but that's nothing compared to what that carchar is calling you,"

"…WHAT…."

"Don't worry, I'm sure your not half as pointy as it says you are," it was like a switch went off in spinax's brain….and then the switch was set on fire. Spinax headbutted lambeo so hard that it was sent flying, then he charged at carchar, Cyclones frothing from his mouth. Delta used this opening to attack lambeo, firing a torrent of water at it. Lambeo disappeared and a smile creeped across Hunter's face.

"Isn't it a little too early to go psycho?"

"SCREW DA RULES! THAT THING NEEDS TO DIE!"

"Fair enough, cyclonic breath!" Hunter yelled the last part, tornadoes erupted around spinax as a green laser Was fired from his mouth and hit carchar square in the face. The battle was over . Hunter had won.

"You're gonna regret this kid, mark my words!" It was hard to take Snivels seriously when he was running away. Hunter swung his velociraptor claw a bit while whistling.

"So, are we gonna talk about your little tantrum?"

"…shut up,"

"Hey, Hunter!" Hunter turned to see Rosie covered in dirt and surrounded by holes in the ground, "stop messing around and help me find this dumb sandal!" Hunter rested his head on his hand.

"Did you not notice the giant dinosaurs fighting? I WAS A LITTLE BUSY,"

"What dinosaurs? Why are your clothes all torn up?" Hunter inspected his torn clothes, nothing was being revealed and he still had pockets.

"Is that what constitutes a win for you?" Spinax asked, "you need to get higher standards pal." Hunter shrugged and started digging for the sandal fossil, Rosie lasted a good fifteen minutes before throwing down her shovel and sitting on the ground.

"This is ridiculous!" She yelled.

"More ridiculous than finding a bunch of knickknacks for a guy named Nick Nack?" Hunter asked. She stared at him for a second, then she burst into laughter. Hunter sighed, did Rosie just now realize that?

"Is something so amusing that it requires that amount of laughter?" Hunter turned towards the source of the new voice and saw Duna walking towards them

"Hi duna!" Rosie, apparently oblivious to the semi-insult she had just received, walked over to duna, "Have you seen a sandal fossil around here?"

"Not the best way to start a conversation Rosie," Hunter sighed yet again.

"Are you perhaps referring to this?" Duna asked.

"Convenience!" Spinax yelled, they were staring at the second sandal fossil. It was exactly like the one nick nick had except for it was oriented for the right foot.

"I feel like this is too easy." Hunter thought.

"It'll probably come back to bite us right in the brachiosaurus later,"

"Fair enough," Hunter turned to Duna, "is it okay if we take this off your hands?"

"I have no need for it so I suppose it is alright,"

"Thanks!" Rosie scooped up the sandal fossil in her arms and walked away triumphantly. Hunter scratched the back of his head. What a strange girl. If he didn't know any better, Hunter would think that Rosie just might be half as crazy as him.

"Thanks again Duna, I appreciate the help,"

"Think nothing of it, I am grateful for you showing me the hip-shaker dance." Duna walked away, leaving Hunter in a daze.

"She saw…"

"…you shaking your butt back and forth? Yep."

"…why does this stuff always happen to me?"

"Don't worry turtle dove! She might be into that kind of-"

"Shut up spinax,"

"You can silence me but you can never silence the trut-" Hunter moved the dino medal between his head and visor and followed Rosie back to the docks.

Done! Talking about the other games has got me thinking, should I continue this story to include the event of fossil fighters champions? I won't do frontier because I played that game to completion and still felt empty inside.

Spinax: I heard that some old vivosaurs get redesigns. What does mine look like?

…and that is the end of that conversation. Thanks for reading!


	20. Chapter 19

Journey of the soul chapter 19

…..

Hunter:…..

…

Hunter: scissors!

Rock! Ha! I win!

Hunter: no fair! You keep waiting until after I've called out mine!

Don't blame me, blame the scissors for not being able to cut a rock….oh hey look, the chapter started. I don't own fossil fighters!

Hunter: ya da ya da ya da. Random stuff that really doesn't involve fossil fighters. can we start the chapter now?

Hold on, I haven't made a movie/pop culture reference yet….I got it! Enjoy the chapter and may the force be with you!

Hunter: huh? What movie is that from? Is that Star Trek or something?

…..they'll never find your body

Two massive creatures stood stall, one covered in crystal armor, the other with long wings that protruded from its sides. A third monster came into view, but its shape was concealed in shadows.

"This is your end," a voice laughed. Two massive skeletal claws reached out from the shadow, closing in. Ready to tear the life out of anything that comes their way.

"Gwah!" Hunter hit the floor with a thud. Miraculously, Holt didn't wake up. Hunter wiped his face, it was covered In sweat. In the room lit only by moonlight, Hunter could read the numbers on his digital clock: 2:17 in the morning. He sighed, after giving Nick Nack the second sandal fossil, his third and final request was a bit strange. The dentures of a denture shark. Of course, while Hunter was thinking of ways to pry a shark's mouth open wide enough to pop out the teeth, Rosie had slowly backed out of the room and ran away. So it looks like he'll be doing this one alone. Hunter pulled himself back up onto his bead and thought about his nightmare. There's no way he could have the same dream twice and it be a coincidence. There had to be some kind of significance. We're those creatures vivosaurs? They were unlike any vivosaurs he had ever seen, and those claws…

"You know what really helps you think? SLEEP!" Hunter groaned.

"How long have you been up?"

"Snore! Snore! Other sleep noises!" Spinax replied.

"Whatever," Hunter pulled the covers over his head and fell back asleep within minutes, unaware of what was to come.

"Wake up! Mail's here!" When Hunter opened his eyes again, sun shone through the window.

"How long are you gonna sleep anyway?"

"Do you want me to sleep or wake up. Make up your mind!"

"MAIL!" Hunter picked up the letters that fell through his mail slot. As he changed into his usual attire, Hunter thought about how he was going to get the shark dentures.

"Crowbar?" Spinax suggested. Hunter rolled his eyes, but grabbed his pickax, just in case. After a hearty breakfast of cereal and god's gift to the world (chocolate milk), Hunter set out for the day. The boat wouldn't be back for another half hour so Hunter loitered in the fossil center.

"Got any ideas on what to do? Hunter asked spinax.

"We could talk about the topic we've been avoiding for the past few weeks, why can't you remember anything?" Hunter sighed and started fiddling with his velociraptor claw pendant.

"I remember leaving my house after…the incident. I wandered around for a few months before finding an orphanage. I can't remember anything about my time there, but I remember leaving and then scrounging up enough money to buy a ticket to come here. I've started to think that maybe that dream I had is one of my memories."

"That sounds really cheesy,"

"I know, but it just might be cliché enough to be true," Hunter thought more about the hoods. An organization that had done something to him. He looked at the X shaped scar on his chest. No doubt about it, He is the specimen X that the report logs keep talking about. But what did they do? And who did they send after him now?

"I'd hate to interrupt your epiphany, but we need to go," Spinax's medal spun in the holder. Hunter got up and went down to the dock, arguing with spinax along the way about who he liked.

"For the last time spinax, I don't like anyone,"

"Ouch. I thought we were friends dude,"

"You know what I meant."

"Do I?"

"Yes you do,"

"I know that you were totally checking out that blonde girl in the dress so yeah, I do know."

"Why are you talking that way?"

"I found the stack of old gossip magazines you keep forgetting to throw away. By the way, did you know that chad ditched Amanda? It is seriously messed up girlfriend."

"…I strongly dislike you right now."

"One step up from hate, I'll take it!" The boat once again stopped in the middle of the lagoon and Hunter launched himself into the water.

"Is it just me or is the atmosphere a bit more violent?" Spinax was right. As he was drifting down, Hunter counted five denture sharks on the sea floor. One in particular was a crimson red color and swimming away fast. That's when Hunter noticed that its dentures were marginally smaller than the other sharks. Maybe….

"Hey buddy, can we have sushi tonight?" Spinax asked as Hunter hit the sea floor and the four sharks turned to face him.

Hunter smiled and pulled out his pickax, "I don't see why not." (Cross: warning: the following scenes are so graphic and violent that I'll just skip to the moment after)

"At least there's no bones for you to chew through this time," spinax remarked as Hunter carried a dead shark on his back, "aren't sharks an endangered species?"

"These guys would kill people on purpose if their dentures were small enough, we're doing a public service if anything." Spinax sent Hunter a mental image of the grilled snakes he had made while they were in the digadigamid, "I'm tellin' you spinax, it's a good protein source,"

"It's also a good source of your insanity,"

"Said the talking vivosaur that reads magazines for teenage girls."

"Said the guy who likes a girl that saw him shake his butt,"

"I. DON'T. LIKE. ROSIE!"

"Who said I was talking about Ms. Pink?"

"…shut up spinax." Hunter silently followed the crimson denture shark to a small outcropping in the bay. Hunter watched behind a rock as the shark popped its teeth out and started to bury them in the sand. But why does it need to bury them? Hunter tried to scratch his head in confusion, but his hand smacked against his diving helmet and the noise drove the shark off.

"Not what I was going for, but I'll take it." Hunter dropped his sushi and unearthed the false teeth. He reeled back when he noticed that a thick layer of plaque covered the fangs.

"That's disgusting!"

"Said the guy who eats snakes…with the bones."

"…touché" Hunter pulled out his drill and drilled away at the plaque. When that didn't work, Hunter smacked the dentures with his hammer. The plaque crumbled away after 10 strikes.

"Hmm," Hunter held the teeth in his hands before throwing them into his backpack, "I feel like this was too easy,"

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!?" Spinax roared, "NOW WE'RE GONNA BE SCREWED!"

"I told you before, I don't believe in superstition," Hunter swam his way back up to the boat, ignoring spinax complaining. He thought about how he'd finally be out of this stupid fetch quest and could do what he wanted until level up battles. He jumped off the boat and on the docks with a smile on his face.

"And here's the hotel, no distractions, no stupid B.B. bandits to fight, and no hip shaking." Hunter pressed the button on the elevator, "nothing went wron-" Vivian was standing in the elevator.

"Ah, look who it is. So nice of you to bring the shark dentures here. Now hand them over." On the outside, Hunter raised an eyebrow. On the inside, he was screaming all kinds of non-kid friendly words while spinax howled with laughter.

"I don't want to say I told you so, but-oh Wait, yes I do. I TOLD YOU SO!"

"….shut up spinax," Hunter turned to face Vivian, "I'm not handing over anything, now get out of my way before I steamroll you," the hotel manager walked over as well.

"Excuse me miss, you are blocking the way to the elevator," Vivian stared daggers at the manager until he backed away slowly. She turned back to Hunter.

"You're either too brave or too stupid to hand over the dentures, let's go with stupid."

"Says the person who thinks they can make me hand them over," Hunter pulled out his dino medals, "how many times will I have kicked your tail now? I beat you so often I lose track." Hunter ran out of the hotel room. Holding the dentures above his head and taunting Vivian.

"Why are we running?" Spinax asked.

"Because I can't fight with dinosaurs inside a hotel,"

"A little property damage never hurt anyone," Hunter called out his vivosaurs and watched as Vivian called out her's. A stegosaur called lexo, a ceratopsian called pachrino, and another floating Loch Ness monster called elasmo. The sun shone bright as the battle began. S-raptor ran forward and stomped on the ground, leaving small flames in his wake. He was about to unload flames on pachrino, but the were complications. Quicker than a velociraptor on Black Friday, elasmo rushed over and met s-raptor's flames with a jet of water that shot Into the raptor's mouth.

"Quicken!" S-raptor used the speed boost to dodge elasmo's follow up attack. Spinax charged in front of elasmo to keep it away from the sinraptor while delta circled around to take down lexo.

"Poison tail!" The spikes on Lexo's tail glowed violet as they swung towards delta, the raptor dodged, but Hunter noticed a strange liquid oozing out of the spikes. Pachrino and s-raptor slammed their heads against each other, pachrino's horns were a cause for concern. But s-raptor's head is almost as thick as spinax's, so it should be okay.

"Wow, it's great that you think so highly of me." Spinax turned to face Hunter.

"It's hard to take you seriously when you have elasmo's neck in your mouth."

"It's hard to take you seriously when you wear a visor all the time." Spinax dropped elasmo and stomped on it. The pliosaur retaliated by hooking its jaws onto spinax's leg and refused to let go. Hunter checked his vivowatch, spinax's health was slowly draining. S-raptor and delta were too busy fighting pachrino and lexo to help.

"Ocean pulse!" A tidal erupted out of elasmo, shooting out in all directions. Spinax received the full force of the attack and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, s- raptor used the quicken ability to dodge while delta used counter. The shield explosion was enough to knock lexo into the tidal wave, but not before it poisoned delta. Lexo disappeared and delta along with it.

"I'm getting too old for this," spinax pushed himself up and growled at elasmo.

"Cyclone!" A tornado shot out of spinax's mouth and towards elasmo, the pliosaur fell to the ground and disappeared.(cross: You might say that I make these fights too short, but this is based off my experience. They should actually be shorter) pachrino nervously tried to make itself look bigger while s-raptor and spinax towered over it. Needless to say, it was set on fire and died a painful death.

"You're gonna regret this!" Vivian yelled.

"I can't take you seriously while your running away!" Hunter yelled back. He stared at the dentures in his hands.

"No, they will not fit in your mouth,"

"I wasn't thinking about that!"

"Yeah you were,"

"…shut up spinax,"

"I feel like that's becoming a catchphrase," Hunter shrugged and walked back into the hotel, he spent the elevator ride wringing the water out of his clothes.

"Ah! Monsieur Hunter! You've returned!" Nick Nack did his dance and Hunter noticed Rosie was in the room as well. She stared at the dentures in his hands and then gave him a look that plainly said, "what kind of psychopath are you?"

"So, we get the beard ribbon now right?" Rosie asked.

"Of course mademoiselle! Thanks to you I can finally live my dream of riding a bug shell toboggan while wearing sandals made of rock and eating very hard walnuts!" Hunter and Rosie stood for a moment, their mouths hanging wide open.

"The bug shell is a toboggan, he actually wants to wear the sandals, and the dentures are a….nutcracker?" Hunter felt his eye twitching, "I went through all of that to get him things that he could buy at Walmart," (cross: not sponsored!)

"Look on the bright side!" Spinax remarked, "Now we can trade them away for something we can't get at Walmart!" Hunter couldn't tell if he had indigestion or just died a little. Nick Nack handed Hunter a small package while Hunter handed over the dentures. He then left without even opening it, leaving Rosie to catch up.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" She asked when they boarded the boat.

"I want this nightmare to end," Hunter whispered, "then I can go home and take a nap."

"Oh, so NOW you care about sleep!" Spinax snorted, "didn't seem to care when you woke me up!"

"I'm going to throw you into the ocean,"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,"

"I didn't wake up on the bed, I woke up right before I hit the floor this morning,"

"And was the floor on the right or left side of the bed?" Hunter dove into the ocean so he wouldn't have to hear what spinax said next. They found the secret passageway to the pirate ship with moderate ease. And once again, Hunter was baffled by how a ship with a massive hole in its hull could have fresh air in it while Rosie didn't question anything.

"Hang on, do you hear that?" Hunter stopped Rosie right before they reached the captain's quarters.

"Voices?" Rosie asked. They slowly peeked around the side of the broken door to see what was going on. The B.B. bandit trio was with captain Woolbeard, and they had just finished tying a frilly pink bow around his beard.

"WoooOoOOoooly WOOOOooooOOo! Me beard ribbon has finally been returned!" The ghost spun in a circle.

"You look quite fashionable Captain," Vivian sneered, "now, about that treasure.."

"Hey!" Rosie called, Hunter smacked his hand to her mouth to muffle her yelling. The bandits looked in the direction of the noise, but they didn't see the danger directly in front of them.

"…..THIS..ISN'T MY BEARD RIBBON,"

Lightning struck directly above captain woolbeard. When the flash subsided, the ghost had turned red with rage, his beard covered his body, and his mouth was perpetually open, as if he was screaming.

"YE WILL ALL BE SUNK TO DAVY JONES LOCKER!" The ghost called down lightning with every shriek. Wind whipped through the cabin. Water started to fill up the room. The B.B. bandits were sent flying through the roof.

"Look at that!" Spinax laughed, "they're blasting off again!"

"Not the time!" Hunter tried to swim forward while not getting electrocuted or blown away. Rosie was barely hanging on to the door hinge. Suddenly, Hunter saw something move under the water, it was almost the size of the room. The head of an elasmo reared up in front of him.

"Avast ye scalawag!" Spinax yelled, "it be the kraken!"

"I thought the kraken was a giant squid?"

"…way to ruin the moment Ishmael ,"

"Now you're just being stupid, Ishmael is the guy from Moby Dick,"

"But did Ishmael grab the whale by the neck?"

"Touché" Hunter gripped elasmo's neck as it swung its head around violently.

"Don't you have a water vivosaur?"

"Well, Yeah. But he's not a very high rank," Hunter slipped the medal out of his holder and let it fall into the water. Another head burst out of the water. A little pliosaur called plesio.

"Hold elasmo off! Glacial rage!" Ice formed around plesio as it charged. Hunter let go off elasmo's Nack and let himself sink into the water as the two vivosaurs clashed above him. Captain woolbeard was still shrieking at the bottom of the water. Hunter opened the small package and revealed the beard ribbon….it was frilly and pink.

"…..huh?"

"Eh. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened," spinax lamented. Hunter swam behind woolbeard and slipped the ribbon around the ghost's beard. As he was tying it and trying not to kick the ghost for screaming so much. The elasmo from before dove down towards him, jaws wide open. He wanted to yell, but then he would lose air. A bright flash erupted in front of him and spinax rushed up to meet elasmo with more teeth.

"Done!" Hunter had finished tying the ribbon. Captain woolbeard returned to normal and the water level started dropping. Spinax was ducking to fit in the room, elasmo's neck was hanging in his mouth. Plesio was laying on the floor with its tongue hanging out. Plesio's eyes were doing that weird cartoon swirl thing. Rosie lay on the floor by the door.

"This treasure better be worth it," she muttered.

"Oh yeah, I forgot why we were here," Hunter recalled his vivosaurs and turned to captain woolbeard, "so, what was the treasure?"

"Only the greatest reward for those who be daring enough to find my beard ribbon!" With a poof, in front of Hunter there was…a tacky looking idol.

"Our shelf collection is complete!" Spinax roared with triumph.

Done! Talking about other fossil fighters games and making movie/pop culture references made me think of a fun challenge. What video game franchises did I reference in chapter 7?

Hunter: wait, those were references? I just thought that you had lost it.

I never had it. To everyone reading, please prove that you are smarter than Hunter thanks for reading!


	21. Chapter 20

Journey of the soul chapter 20

Man, 20 chapters already. It's crazy to think that I've been doing this for 6 months.

Hunter: 6 months, man, you're slow.

Quality over quantity, or would you prefer 43,000 chapters of one word?

Hunter:….touché

That's what I thought. I don't own fossil fighters and all that stuff. Enjoy the chapter!

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that vivosaurs have souls?"

"That's what my research has concluded," Hunter Cloud sat down on a stack of papers as he listened to Dr. Diggins.

"When you brought in that broken spinax dino medal, I noticed that it had an unusual component. After some scans, I found that it was similar to the human soul. So either I'm going insane, or that your vivosaur is the first of an advanced generation with souls."

"I knew someone would acknowledge my amazing-ness!" Spinax roared in triumph, "you own me twenty bucks!" Hunter thought about it. It was common knowledge that the soul was an actual human component and not some fairy tale, but dinosaurs with emotions, personalities, and memories? He spent half the time convinced that spinax was a figment of his imagination.

"Hey! I have feelings proven by science too!"

"So, would this spinax behave differently?" Hunter asked the doctor.

"Well, considering the link between fighter and vivosaur, spinax might be able to preform commands that you think of before you say them. It's kind of like you could talk to each other in your mind!" Dr. Diggins chuckled, Hunter laughed nervously while shuffling his feet.

"They're on to us kid. Time to get fake ideas and move to the caliosteo islands. How does Sora, master Assassin sound?"

"Nice callback, still not taking that vacation."

"One more thing Hunter, I looked at those idols you kept finding and found strange bits of medal in them," he pulled out a small data chip and handed it to Hunter, "this should modify your sonar to detect any if they are nearby." Hunter opened the back of his sonar and fit the chip into an empty slot. He thanked Dr. Diggins and then started walking back to the hotel. He thought about the idea of more vivosaurs like spinax, maybe they do exist?

"Less talking, more fighting," spinax interrupted, "you said you would do level up battles today," Hunter sighed, after finally making captain woolbeard happy by bringing back his beard ribbon, Hunter had retired from adventuring for a few days. He had locked himself up in the hotel room and played video games while winning bets with holt and losing bets with spinax.

"I'll get that done later, I still haven't had lunch yet."

"Procrastination is not an effective excuse,"

"Food is an effective motivator," as they argued, Hunter wasn't paying attention to the road ahead until it was too late.

"Ouch!" He hit…something and fell to the floor, "sorry about that, I wasn't-oh, hi Duna,"

"Do all hu- males have an absent mind?"

"I've been told I'm one of a kind," Duna seemed completely unfazed by the collision, "or something like that anyway." Suddenly, Hunter felt a rush of pain to his head. A similar pain to when he read the black tablet for the first time. The pain kept increasing, Hunter held his head in his hands.

A scream of pain rang out.

And then it was over, almost like nothing happened. Hunter looked around him only to find that Duna had left. The people around weren't staring at him like most people did when he did something weird. He picked his backpack up off the ground and walked to the fossil stadium.

"Sudden change of heart?" Spinax asked, "or is there hamburgers at the stadium?"

"You didn't see that?"

"See what?"

"…never mind. It's nothing."

"Attention all units, the insane madman is slowly moving towards the fossil stadium, prepare to intercept."

"So funny I forgot to laugh."

"He appears to be insane beyond reason, drastic measures must be taken," spinax sounded remarkably like the superhero in a movie hunter had watched last night. The fossil stadium was packed, mostly due to level up battles. Hunter had to duck and slip through the crowd, avoiding falling pickax's, just to get to the counter. As he sat on the bench waiting for the intercom to call his name up to the stadium, Hunter thought about who his opponent would be.

"Ten bucks says it's the ghost pirate," spinax bet.

"Why would a ghost be the level master?"

"Elementary my dear Watson. For you see, you have the impeccable ability to meet the level master before you fight them."

"Hmm. You've got a point. Maybe it's Duna, she was headed this way."

"Looks like turtle dove is a stalker,"

"Hey! We both ran into her, so how am I the stalker?"

"What are you talking about? We never ran into her, you're being a little obsessive turtle dove."

"….what?" Hunter didn't have time to think about what spinax just said because the intercom just rang out. "Hunter Cloud, please report to the stadium hall for your level up battle." Hunter made his way to the hall in a daze. Why can't spinax remember that they ran into Duna? Remember…lost memories…maybe...

"Bonjour monsieur Hunter!" . NO! NOOOOO, "MOOOO! It's fossil cattle time! I hop you're ready for my vivosaurs to knock the butter off your bread!"

"Why does this keep happening!?" Hunter screamed internally.

"The tree falls from the leaf and lands where it wants," spinax said, "perhaps it was testimony,"

"If you talk like that again, I'll put you next to plesio in the holder."

"You wouldn't do that, we both know he reeks of three day old fish,"

"Then you'll have something in common," Hunter turned to nick Nack before spinax could continue the argument.

"I'm gonna huff and puff and knock your mouse down!"

"I don't know what that means." Hunter walked out to the stadium and got into position for the battle. The crowds screams clouded his thoughts as nick Nack called out his vivosaurs. A tiny green raptor with feathers called m-raptor, a ceratopsian that was mainly blue with intricate designs and one big horn called styraco, and a mammal like creature called elasmoth. Hunter stared nervously at the giant horn that adorned elasmoth's head.

"Spinax! S-raptor! Delta!" Hunter's vivosaurs roared onto the battle field and the fossil battle began.

"S-fang!" S-raptor charged forward and brought his jaws down on m-raptor. Hunter expected a quick knockout, but was shocked when S-raptor's teeth bounced off like a pencil on a trampoline.

"Weird analogy," spinax remarked as he brought his fangs down on the microraptor as well. The same thing happened. M-raptor reared up and delivered a kick to s-raptor's head, sending it flying backwards.

"…huh?" Hunter checked his vivowatch as styraco charged into spinax sending him flying as well. Support effects gave all of Nick Nack's vivosaurs a 40% boost in every stat!

"Well, I believe the term for this is: we are royally screwed," spinax gritted his teeth and slammed into elasmoth, the mammal easily overpowered spinax and knock him into the air. Delta created a stream of water so spinax would land safely, then charged at m-raptor.

"Blitz attack!" A veil of water dispersed as delta slammed into m-raptor. The attack left puddles all over the battlefield. M-raptor whipped its tail around and sent delta skidding across the floor, reeling from the blow.

"The support effects are coming from m-raptor and styraco," Hunter muttered to himself, "so I should focus on them."

"Or we could do this," Spinax planted his foot down in a puddle and kicked forward. The water carried his body across the field and his jaws into m-raptor's face. Spinax skated away before the microraptor could retaliate.

"Why are all of your ideas crazy?" Hunter asked.

"Why are all of your ideas no fun?" Spinax replied. Hunter shrugged and called out for s-raptor to breath fire on every puddle, steam arose from wherever the fire touched the water.

"Aqua cannon!" Styraco tried to stop delta from charging up its attack, but the steam clouded its vision. Delta fired a blue orb of energy towards the opposing team that exploded upon impact, showering the entire battlefield with water. Almost like it was raining.

"See?" Hunter pointed out to spinax, "my ideas can be fun,"

"It's not water skating, but it's a start. Professor spinax approves. Now read pages 1-49 to study for the upcoming test." It doesn't matter if Hunter would fail the test, the attack had knocked out m-raptor and that's what he wanted.

"Phobia beam!" Elasmoth shot a tiny laser out of its mouth and hit spinax in the foot. Immediately, Hunter had to cover his ears from all the screaming.

"OHMYREVIVALMACHINETHEREISAGiANTRAPTORANDASMALLRAPTORRIGHTNEXTTOMETHATISFREAKINGTERRIFYINGANDWHYISTHATGUYWEARINGFEATHERSTHATISINSANEANDTERRIFYINGANDIAMREALLYSCAREDRIGHTNOW!" (Cross: extra credit to whoever can figure out what spinax just said.)

"This is worse than when you were confused" Hunter checked his vivowatch, spinax has a status condition called "scared". He wouldn't be able to use any special attacks. He also sounded like a rabid chipmunk. Hunter tried to issue commands to his other vivosaurs, but spinax wouldn't stop screaming about how the elasmoth was gonna eat him.

"Ruin beam!" Another laser shot from elasmoth's mouth. This one branched into three and started homing in on Hunter's vivosaurs. Delta managed to dodge, But S-raptor and spinax we're both hit. Fortunately, spinax has stopped screaming.

"S-fury!" A series of bites and slashes were unleashed upon styraco, ending with a steady stream of fire that knocked it out. Elasmoth charged towards spinax, who was still blubbering relentlessly. Delta shot a jet of water in front of it, causing the large mammal to slip and skid to a halt. Elasmoth looked nervously at the two raptors that towered over it. No support effects to save it this time.

Spinax screamed again, "WHYIStHATRHINOONFIRETHATISABSOLUTELYTERRIFYING!"

Hunter picked up his new license at the counter: Hunter Cloud, level 5 fighter.

"Did I really scream?" Spinax asked for the 27th time.

"Like a little girl," Hunter replied. Just two more levels to go and he'll be a master fighter. He turned to leave but something grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Hi Hunter!"

"Hi Rosie, please let go of my shirt before I choke,"

"Looks like turtle dove isn't done yet!"

"Shut up spinax." Rosie was talking about how she had lost her level up battle and was about to try again, but Hunter wasn't paying attention. He was too busy trying to get spinax to stop humming "here comes the bride" at the top of his lungs.

"One more thing Hunter,"

"Yeah?"

"Don't think I won't catch up to you!" She raised her finger to the sky, "I'll be first to get master fighter for sure!" Hunter chuckled under his breath.

"I'd like to see you try! I won't lose to anyone!" Hunter replied.

"Coughthehoodcough," spinax said.

"Technically, you lost too so don't pin that on me," Hunter and spinax got into another argument and by the time they finished, Rosie had already left.

Meanwhile, someone was walking down to the park area, determination in their eyes and a black tablet in their hand. They moved behind a tree and sat down. Two kids played with a frisbee in the distance. The frisbee sailed over to where the tree was. When one kid walked over to recover the frisbee, no one else was there.

Done! I get that this chapter is shorter than most, but I've been busy and haven't had a lot of time to write.

Hunter: you mean busy playing video games and procrastinating.

…..whatever. I'm just glad I've gotten through the first four chapters of the game, this is where the story really starts picking up.

Hunter: what happens?

Well, I could tell you….thanks for reading! (Leaves quickly)

Hunter:son of a spinosaurus.


	22. Chapter 21

Journey of the soul chapter 21

EVERYONE RUN!

Hunter: what's wrong?

I told spinax what happened to him in frontier.

Hunter: And that's what's making you run? It can't be that ba-

Spinax is named after the dinosaur altispinax. However, the spikes on altispinax were discovered to belong to a related dinosaur known as *sigh* becklespinax.

Hunter… you mean that…

Beckles Hunter, Beckles

Hunter: this is worse than you not owning fossil fighters.

Indeed, enjoy the chapter! I gotta find a place to hide.

Some days are best spent outside in the great wilderness, and some days are best spent indoors. For Hunter Cloud, it was the latter. He laid sprawled out on his bed, half asleep, half not wanting to get up. His arm draped over the side of the bed and the visor he usually wore was hanging off his foot which stuck out of the blanket. Little did he know, an alarm clock was soon on the way.

"Level 5 baby!" Hunter's roommate, Holt, burst into the room shouting.

"Gwah!" Hunter awoke abruptly, almost falling off the bed, "what is so important that I have to get up early?"

"Early? It's almost noon,"

"What?!" Hunter quickly checked his alarm clock. 11:53, the day's already half over and he hadn't even woken up.

"Anyway, check out who just made fighter level 5!" Holt held his new license in front of Hunter.

"Cool," Hunter grabbed his visor off his foot and stuck it on his head, "wanna head to the level five dig site with me today?"

"Sure, although you may want to put on some clothes first," Hunter then realized that he had fallen asleep in just his underwear. Quickly, he pulled on his regular attire. While he did, Hunter wondered while his usual alarm clock hadn't woken him up screaming about the mail. Was spinax still asleep too? As he clicked his medals into his holder, Hunter looked up information about the new dig site: Mt. Lavaflow. Apparently, it's one of the worst dig sites despite being near an active volcano which would have hundreds of fossils.

"Hmmm," Hunter got up and followed holt out to the dock. Mindlessly, he started swinging his velociraptor claw pendant around. As they boarded the boat Hunter tried to get spinax to wake up.

"WAKE UP POINTY!" He yelled internally. No response. Instead, a low pitched humming noise filled his ears. Strange. Either spinax was ignoring him or humming a very monotone song. Either one would be an improvement over regular spinax so Hunter didn't mind. He instead turned his attention to the calm ocean as they sailed around the island. Eventually, Hunter noticed that it had become significantly hotter and the lush green tree line of the island had faded away to reveal rocky crags. A volcano loomed in the distance.

"I was wondering when I'd get to use this!" Holt had pulled a small metal bead out of his backpack and attached it to his hat. Hunter could feel a small amount of moisture emanating from holt.

"Nice," he remarked.

"What can I say?" Holt replied, "it pays to work for an engineer." Hunter had to agree, as when they docked at the dig site the heat was scorching. Hunter took his first few steps slowly as the sweltering heat immediately started affecting him. Holt payed no attention to this as he dashed around a rock wall and out of sight. While hunter plunged his pickax in the ground, slowly making his way to where holt had disappeared to, he wondered why this dig site had received such a bad reputation. Aside from the heat, it didn't seem that bad.

"One must not be presumptuous young grasshopper," Said a voice that sounded far away, "only once you have all the colors can you truly begin to paint."

"Sounds like someone woke up on the tie-dye side of the bed,"

"Meditation is the great sterilization of the world,"

"Is that what that humming was?"

"Your definition of my transcendence can only be described as erroneous."

"You don't even know what erroneous means," Spinax responded by making another humming noise. Hunter ignored his prehistoric, yet insane friend and finally rounded the corner to find holt. It was then that he realized why no one likes the dig site.

Holt was looking up at a massive boulder that looked thicker than spinax's head and bigger than Spinax's appetite (which is huge). Lave surrounded both sides of the rock so there was no going around.

"Well this sucks," holt muttered. Hunter struck the boulder with his pickax. He felt the shock of the collision vibrate throughout his entire body. The pickax didn't bounce off though, it stayed stuck and refused to come lose no matter how hard Hunter pulled.

"Well crap,"

"Defecation is not a well used expression of distress,"

"Well since your apparently a genius today why don't you try and move the rock?" Hunter chucked spinax's dino medal at the boulder. Spinax appeared and charged straight at the stone with a roar. His head slammed into the rock, but instead of getting stuck like Hunter's pickax, spinax bounced off and skidded backwards.

"…THAT ROCK IS GOING TO DIE."

"What happened to meditation?" Hunter asked.

"SCREW MEDITATION," spinax charged at the rock again and continuously head butted it. Holt looked at Hunter and Hunter shrugged.

"He needs to get it out of his system,"

"Your vivosaurs are strange,"

"Tell me about it." Another humming noise filled the air, but it wasn't spinax this time. Hunter's phone was vibrating.

"Hello?"

"Is this Hunter Cloud?"

"Depends on whose asking,"

"This is the Vivosaur Island police station, we'd like you to come here immediately." Hunter went rigid.

"Ok," Hunter turned to holt and said he had to go. As he rode the boat back he couldn't help but wonder. Why does the police station want him, did he do something wrong? Do they know who he is?

"Relax, the only people who know about that are sitting on the boat."

"One, your not sitting. Two, I don't think I want someone who was just banging their head against a rock to know about me,"

"Look who's talking, you left your pickax IN the rock,"

Hunter quickly realized his mistake, "Can we turn the ship around please?"

A while later, Hunter had finally made it to the police station and was told to wait until captain bullwort was ready. As he entered the captain's office, he noticed that Mr. Richmond was there as well. What happened?

"Hunter," Bullwort said sternly, "you are friends with miss rosetta Richmond correct?"

"Rosie?" Hunter asked, trying to hide his excitement because this wasn't about him, "Yeah, I guess we're friends,"

"Rosie's been kidnapped," Mr. Richmond said.

"…..what?"

"I found her room empty this morning with a single note on the bed." Mr. Richmond handed a small piece of paper to Hunter. The handwriting was extremely messy.

"Bring the idols to the dock in the park area or you'll never see the girl again," he read aloud. Hunter froze. This note wasn't for Mr. Richmond, it was for HIM. Whoever kidnapped Rosie is using her as leverage to get the idols, and he had a pretty good idea who.

"Seems Like our old friends want to have a reunion!" Spinax chuckled, "you bring the food, I'll bring the death and destruction,"

"We don't know for sure if this is the BB Bandits,"

"Name one other group that has been after the idols and is known for committing crimes,"

"Fair enough, why do they want those pieces of junk anyway?"

"They want to run an antique store?"

"….that's one theory," Mr. Richmond left and captain Bullwort excused Hunter.

"I don't know about these idols. But for Rosie's sake, I hope someone takes them to the dock in the park area," Hunter felt extremely guilty. This was partially his fault. He went back to his hotel room and thought about his options. He couldn't talk his way out of this one, the bandits wouldn't listen. If he didn't bring the idols, who knows what could happen to Rosie. And even if he did bring the idols, he'd be doing what they want.

"I say we set everything on fire and blame spontaneous combustion," spinax interjected.

"That sounds like plan B" Hunter pulled the idols off the shelf and grabbed his backpack.

"Are we going to go kick some tail?"

"You know it" Hunter headed out to the park area with the idols crammed in his backpack and a dino medal in his hand. He moved behind a group of trees and surprise surprise, a BB bandit was waiting for him. In the water was a sleek purple motorboat.

"Ah, I see you've brought the idols. Now you can negotiate for the girl," The bandit mocked thinking, "or I could tak-"

"V-raptor!" Hunter's vivosaur appeared in a flash and pinned the bandit to the ground. He tried to yell, but Hunter pulled out a roll of duck tape and strapped it over his mouth.

"Keep him hear until I'm back," Hunter told v-raptor, "or until the cops show up, whichever comes last." Hunter boarded the boat and pressed the large button that said: autopilot. The boat roared to life and set off to an unknown destination. Hunter watched Vivosaur Island fade into the background until it was only a line on the horizon. He stomach started to growl, so he sat down and had lunch.

"You are in the boat of your biggest enemies," spinax muttered, "and you're eating a sandwich…"

"You try fighting on an empty stomach. I don't know how many grunts are gonna be where I'm going, but I know they'll all want to fight." Spinax wasn't listening, he was too busy humming the theme song to the spy movie Hunter had seen last …spy.

"That's it! I don't have to fight if they can't see me! You're a genius spinax!"

"Of course I am!...what are we doing?" Hunter rolled his eyes and noticed a faint outline in the distance. As they got closer, the island came into view. It was small with a singular building on it. On the building were two giant letters: BB.

"They do realize that that's the equivalent of wearing a target," spinax groaned, "put your giant logo on your base and you're basically screaming: I'M OVER HERE!" Hunter had to agree, subtlety was not their strong suit. The boat finally pulled up to the docks. Amazingly, no grunts were outside. Hunter walked up to the big metal doors of the building and kicked them open. Seven grunts stared at him as he entered, whistling.

"I want you all to notice how sneaky I am when I do this!" Hunter yelled, "take notes!" He dropped a Dino medal onto the ground and out came a large, red raptor with feathers adorning it's head.

"U-raptor, burn this place to the ground,"

"Plan B always works!" Spinax cheered.

Hunter ran up the floors of the building as fast as he could, leaving a different vivosaur at each floor. He could tell he was getting close to the top. Hunter realized that the leader of the BB bandits was probably waiting for him. He reached the next floor and saw a familiar sight, three people standing with their backs to him conspiring. Hunter rested his hand on his head.

"You know I can see you right?" The three turned immediately.

"Well well well, look who thinks they can play hero," vivian sneered. Snivels chuckled and Rex barked, "give up the idols now kid, while you still have the chance."

"You do realize that none of you have come close to beating me right?" Hunter raised an eyebrow, "and all your grunts have rank 2 vivosaurs…how have you managed to be a problem at all?"

"In case you haven't noticed," spinax said in his professor voice, "we are pretty much the only ones who do anything."

"Yeah, why haven't the police shut these guys down yet?"

"Shut up runt! It's time someone taught you manners," Snivels yelled. The three each pulled out a Dino medal.

"Let's just get this over with," Hunter tosses out his own dino medals. Spinax, S-raptor, and Delta faced down Carchar, Zino, and a small blue vivosaur called dilopho. Dilopho looked like delta but had a bright purple frill. The battle started when zino launched itself into the air and swung at spinax. Of course, with Zino's terrible accuracy it landed 20 feet to the left of spinax and missed completely. Delta kicked the therizinosaurus in the head and sent it reeling backwards. Carchar and S-raptor were locked in a fierce head butting match. Dilopho tried to climb onto spinax, but he whipped his tail around and sent the raptor flying. While it was in the air, a blue light transferred from dilopho to zino. Suddenly, the red vivosaur sprang into action and slashed spinax in the side.

"THAT HURT YOU PILLOCK!"

"Woah! PG dude!"

"Don't worry, half the people here don't know what that means,"

"I'm the only one who can hear you, what are-…nevermind," Hunter checked his vivowatch. Dilopho's support effects are giving zino a boost in accuracy, combined with zino's high critical hit rate makes one effective strategy. S-raptor pushed carchar backwards and fired a jet of flame. Carchar returned the blow by spraying a sandstorm at s-raptor. Zino got in the middle of the fight and scratched s-raptor in the face. The sinraptor roared in pain and fell backwards. Delta rushed towards dilopho and fired a jet of water, dilopho retaliated with its own jet of water. Neither refused to give in, meanwhile. Spinax was exchanging attacks with zino.

"Cyclone!" Spinax fired a tornado at zino, the red vivosaur countered with a small stream of flame, but all this succeeded in doing was lighting the cyclone on fire. Zino tried to dodge, but was caught in the raging inferno.

"One down, two to go," Hunter muttered to himself. Spinax moved by s-raptor to help with carchar, while delta and dilopho had given up on firing water and instead circled each other trading bites and slashes.

"Counter!" A blue shield surrounded delta and exploded when dilopho went in for another attack. Dilopho reeled backwards and ran behind carchar. Spinax slammed his head into the side of carchar and s-raptor threw a flamethrower at it while delta chased dilopho. Each of Hunter's vivosaurs had a fire burning in their eyes. Hunter looked at his fp count. It was rising beyond its limit. Suddenly, three attacks came to mind.

"Cyclonic breath! Scorch breath! Aqua cannon!" Spinax and s-raptor bath fired lasers in their color while delta jumped up and shot a comet out of its mouth. The building shook from the blow. When the dust cleared, only three vivosaurs were still on the battlefield.

"Don't think you've won yet kid!" The bb bandit trio yelled as they ran away, "our boss will grind your bones into powder with his vivosaurs!"

"You can't be threatening if you're running away!" Hunter called back.

"Can we do another trinity burst?" Spinax asked.

"What?"

"Trinity burst, triple team skill, that's what I'm calling it. Copyright spinax, it's mine now."

"Why do you want to do it again? We aren't in battle,"

"I like the sound it makes," Hunter sighed with disappointment while spinax laughed. As he made his way up the final staircase, Hunter couldn't help but wonder what the bb boss would look like. Maybe it would a classic movie scene, Hunter entering a completely dark room except for one light illuminating a throne that the boss was sitting on. So when he entered the room, he was a little disappointed.

"Why is everything gold?" Hunter looked around the solid gold room, there was a small green couch with a paper and pencil and a window overlooking the sea, but other than that…, "seriously, you have enough money for a solid gold room, yet you can't-oh, hi Rosie, hire grunts with good vivosaurs?!"

"'Tis one of the greatest mysteries of all, "spinax said, "Why do humans like rocks that are the same color as pee?"

"Wait a minute… oh hey Rosie." Hunter suddenly noticed that the person he was here for was sitting tied up on the couch. There was duck tape over her mouth, but it's obvious she was screaming at him.

"Hey Rosie, have you seen the bb boss anywhere? I really want to beat him up for making me come here," Rosie rolled her eyes, "gee thanks, just say no next time." Rosie frantically shuffled around and got a hand loose. She grabbed the pencil on the table and wrote CB on the paper

"Well, well, Well. How nice to see you Hunter." Said a voice from behind the corner. Captain Bullwort came into view. Instead of the captain's usual grin, a sneer adorned his face. Hunter put two and two together, "I assume you already know why I'm here."

"Yeah, I figured it out as soon as I got up here." Rosie threw the pencil at Hunter, "ow! Okay, maybe I had a little help."

"In any case, I must thank you for bringing the idols directly to me," a flash of light temporarily blinded Hunter. When the light faded, Bullwort was wearing a bright purple BB uniform with green accents.

"It was so easy to infiltrate the the police station and become captain," he monologued, "all that's left…is to crush you and take the idols."

"Okay, 3 questions." Hunter held up a finger, "one, Don't the police have background checks for anyone joining them? Two, why do you want the idols anyway? Three, can the fight be one on one? I've seen enough vivosaurs beat the snot out of each other for one day."

To Hunter's surprise, Bullwort laughed, "always with the quick response, I'm going to miss our little chats when you're nothing more than a stain on my boot," Bullwort pulled out a Dino medal, I, Bartholomew Bullwort, will destroy you!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hunter and spinax laughed in unison, "you named your crime syndicate after your initials? That's so lame!" Hunter pulled out one of his own dino medals.

"AMARGO! TEAR HIM APART!"

"SPINAX! SEND HIM FLYING!"

"Someone's suddenly motivated," spinax commented as he appeared on the battlefield.

"If we win, that's the end of the BB bandits. That means they won't be interrupting everything we do every two seconds,"

"….LEAVE NO SURVIVORS…."

"Glad We're on the same page, Spinax fang!" Spinax bit down on the red brachiosaur in front of it. Amargo used its spines to force spinax away.

"Blazing doom!" Amargo stomped, sending a shock wave of fire out in all directions. Spinax launched into the air, but the fire still grazed him.

"Cyclone!" A tornado flew out of spinax mouth and hit Amargo. Amargo shot a stream of fire and knocked spinax out of the air. Spinax tackled Amargo to the ground, but before he could fire a tornado, Amargo lashed its tail around and smacked spinax backwards. Spinax arched his spikes as Amargo charged forward and the two collided. They were both sent skidding backwards.

"Fire cannon!" Amargo began charging a massive fireball, flames started swirling around it.

"Quick, harden!" Green sparkles surrounded spinax as the inferno was released. Fire engulfed the room, Hunter couldn't see what was ahead of him without his eyes hurting from the heat. When the fire was quenched, spinax was still standing…barely.

"Can't…keep….this up," he muttered weakly.

"I'm trying to think of a plan! Hold him off for now." Hunter desperately thought of a plan while spinax dodged amargo's onslaught of attacks. There had to be a way to get more power to spinax! For some strange reason, the incident at the digadigamid kept popping into his head. When spinax looked like a completely different vivosaur entirely and used a move that wasn't even in his attack list. It happened when…

"Spinax, I'm sorry about this." Hunter ran towards his vivosaur, who looked back at him in confusion. Hunter launched himself up, cocked his arm back, and Superman punched spinax in the eye. That's when the greatest motivational speech came back for round two.

"Are you gonna just sit there and lose, POINTY!?"

"GRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!" Hunter's vivowatch beeped, a new skill was available.

"Fire cannon now!" Bullwort yelled desperately, "Fire cannon! FIRE CANNON!" Too late.

"SPINAX MEGA!" Hunter screamed this new attack. Spinax roared with such ferocity that the entire building shook to its very core. A translucent figure appeared, covering over spinax as if they were the same. It was the same crystal vivosaur in Hunter's dream. Tornadoes shot out of the ground as spinax charged at Amargo and delivered a devastating bite that was infused with wind pressure. Amargo flew backwards and crashed into the wall. As Amargo faded away, the crystal vivosaur image surrounding spinax disappeared.

"Ha….who's pointy now," spinax muttered before crashing to the ground. Hunter recalled his vivosaur and turned towards Bullwort.

"Wow, this is déjà vu,"

"How so Hunter, you've never beaten me before and I assure you that it will never happen again," Bullwort was already reaching for his other dino medals, unaware of who was sneaking up behind him.

"I mean beating up a criminal In a one on one, him vowing to beat me, and then immediately getting arrested by the police," click click, the handcuffs were on.

(2 hours later)

"Hmm, I don't believe I've heard of the before," Hunter was sitting in Dr. Diggins office, trying not to slide and fall on the slick floor. Hunter had called the police before he went to the island just in case, looks like it payed off that Bullwort didn't answer the phone. It was ironic really, a police chief seeing the inside of a cell. Rosie went home after slapping Hunter in the face for not telling her he was coming to rescue her…he has no comment on that. Hunter took spinax's medal to dr. Diggins to find out how he did what he did.

"I've never heard of a vivosaur that can use attacks like that," The doctor turned in his swivel chair, "and you say spinax looked like this?" The doctor pointed to the drawing of the crystal vivosaur Hunter had drew for him.

"Yeah," Hunter agreed, "but it was like a translucent shadow cast over him, it looked like two vivosaurs at the same time."

"At any rate, that's one special vivosaur you have there Hunter."

" HA! I am important!" Spinax yelled in triumph, "still wanna know how I did that though,"

"We may never know," Hunter said, "Maybe I should call you pointy more often,"

"HahahahahahHa!...no," as the two argued, neither of them had any idea that two hooded figures were watching them.

"X has the idols, I don't see why we can't take them," said one to the other.

"We must wait until he has acquired them all," replied the shorter hood, "that is when I will take them myself,"

"You believe that you will be able to best specimen X in combat?"

"Don't humor me, X is nothing."

Done! This is it, the longest chapter I've ever written. Enjoy it, cause' I really don't want to write one like this again.

Hunter: wow, you really don't cater to the fans, do you.

Yes I do! As a matter of fact, I want as much feedback as possible.(super serious mode engaged) I've said in the past that I want this story to be what the fans want, so I'll make it that. Feel free to leave suggestions and ideas I can incorporate into my story in reviews. don't be afraid to tell me what I'm doing wrong either! If I do include your idea, I'll do a little shout out in the intro. Feel free to ask any questions you have about the journey too! And this applies to my entire story. Well, that's about it, thanks for-

Spinax: WHY AM I PURPLE!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NINTENDO!

Never ask me to include frontier though, that'll never happen.


	23. Chapter 22

Journey of the soul chapter 22

I really don't have much to say, I just wanna get this chapter done.

Hunter:…so…we can start now?

Yeah.

Hunter: no funny argument? No screaming? No dramatic actions?

No

Hunter: who are you and what have you done with Cross. This is the most-

YOU'RE DRAGGING OUT THE INTRO! STOP IT!

Hunter: there's the screaming. Cross doesn't own fossil fighters!

ENJOY!

"Where is it? Where is it?" Hunter Cloud was frantically rummaging through his things, tearing apart his room in the process. His roommate, Holt, just stared in awe as Hunter nearly flipped over his bed.

"What are you looking for?" Holt asked.

"Nothing," Hunter replied quickly while sticking his head into his backpack, "Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?"

"What is so important that you have to tear up your room?" Spinax yawned as Hunter threw clothes out of his dresser, "is it your mind? You lost that a long time ago."

"HahahahahahaHA! Very funny, I'm trying to find…nothing,"

"You know I can read your mind right…YOU LOST THE TABLET!?" Hunter covered his ears to muffle the screaming. Holt left with a confused look on his face.

"I know, I know," Hunter said in a defeated tone, "I lost the one lead we had on the hoods, but in my defense-"

"What could possibly defend you right now?"

"…I got nothing,"

"Well your right about that. No tablet, no sanity, no girlfriend, no bal-"

"This conversation is over," Hunter grabbed his backpack and quickly shoved everything he needed back in it. He left his hotel and started heading towards the fossil center.

"Why aren't we going to the stadium?" Spinax asked, "level up battles? One step closer to your dream? Any of that ring a bell?"

"I left my pickax with Dr. diggins fo some maintenance," Hunter explained, we're gonna go pick it up first."

"Why?"

"Because the edge broke when I tried to break that giant boulder. Any of that ring a bell?" Hunter walked through the fossil center doors and slid on his butt to the doctor's office. Diggins turned towards Hunter as he crashed into a stack of papers.

"Morning doc," Hunter said as he frantically re-stacked the papers, "is my pickax fixed?"

"Hello Hunter, your pickax is right here. As a matter of fact, I decided to do a bit of tinkering," Dr. Diggins continued as he pulled Hunter's new and improved pickax out. It was the same as before, but the blades of the pickax were folded down towards the handle. Hunter held it for a moment, it was lighter than before. He swung it around like a sword.

"The blades are folded inward for when your not using it, but" Dr diggins gestured towards a small trigger on the handle, "tap that once and the edges will flip back out. Tap it again and they'll fold back in. It's my very own design."

"Nifty," spinax commented, "we have another weapon aside from giant dinosaurs."

"Thanks doc. By the way, do you know anything about the level five master?" Dr. Diggins suddenly became very guarded.

"No, I have no idea who he is or what vivosaurs he uses. Definitely not ones I've talked about before."

"…oookayyy. Well, see ya doc." Hunter walked out feeling very confused. He sat down near the fountain by the docks and thought about it. obviously knows who the level master is and is refusing to tell him."

"It's the police, crime boss guy." Spinax said.

"Have you forgotten his name already?" Hunter asked, "There's no way that it could be Bullwort. He's in jail."

"It's always someone you meet earlier. It could be Holt for all we know."

"That reminds me, I need to tell holt about how HE STILL DOESN'T DO THE FREAKING DISHES." Hunter got up and walked over to the hotel. The hotel was quiet during the day, aside from the trumpets blaring from a certain someone's door. Hunter walked into his room to an odd sight.

"Are they?.."

"Watching a movie? Yes. Sorry turtle dove, you blew it." Holt was sitting on the couch next to Rosie. Not only were they watching a movie, but they were watching Hunter's favorite movie! And not only that, but they weren't even paying attention! Holt was re-counting how many V-raptors he had and Rosie was just staring at Holt. You could practically see the hearts in her eyes.

"Huh," Hunter said to himself. Neither of them noticed him yet. He silently held his pickax above their heads and clicked the trigger. The edges flipped out to their original position with a satisfying snap. Rosie screamed and knocked over Holt's stack of dino medals.

"Well, well, Well. What do we have here?" Hunter asked with mock suspicion, "a boy and a girl alone on a couch, could this be a date?"

"Huh?" Holt seemed genuinely confused, "Rosie just asked if she could come over." Rosie was on the floor with a hand over her heart.

"I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a date holt," Hunter pointed out, "or is your relationship with your v-raptors way to serious." Holt wasn't listening, he was already picking up all his dino medals, kissing each one. Rosie on the other hand, was a little upset."

"What's the big idea?! Scaring me for no reason!"

"Well, there was one reason."

"What?"

"I didn't want you two cuddling on my couch, it smells bad enough as it is." Rosie's ears turned bright pink as she realized what Hunter had said.

"What are you talking about! It's not like I like him!" Holt looked up from his dino medals and Hunter raised an eyebrow while smiling. He patted Rosie on the head before going to his part of the room, leaving her confused and embarrassed.

"It's kinda strange knowing my two best friend were on a date." Hunter told spinax.

"Don't worry turtle dove, plenty more fish in the sea,"

"I. DON'T. LIKE. ROSIE."

"Sure, and I'm and I'm a purple t-rex that sings about imagination."

"That aside, I actually did suspect that Rosie liked me because of…"

"That make out session you guys had last month?"

"One, it wasn't a make out session, she kissed me on the cheek. Two, that was probably because of all the chocolate milk."

"What is it with you and chocolate milk?"

"It's the revival machine's gift to the world," Hunter grabbed his holder and stuck his medals onto it, "alright, teenage drama aside, time to get back to what's important."

"Level 6 is in the bag!" Spinax cheered, "things are finally going our way! Aside from you being dumped,"

"I wasn't dating anyone to begin with."

"Fear not turtle dove! Your wingman is here to fix your broken wing!"

"…huh?"

"Nevermind, you're hopeless." Hunter shrugged and walked down to the fossil stadium, teasing Rosie and holt as he left the hotel. Level 6, the final step before master fighter. He was closer to accomplishing his dream than he could possibly imagine.

"You're jinxing it," spinax muttered. Hunter ignored him and walked into the stadium. He noticed that as he leveled up, the stadium became less and less crowded. He made it to the front desk with no problems at all.

"Hunter, level 5 fighter," the receptionist read of his license, "for your level up battle, a time limit will be in place." Hunter's heart skipped a beat.

"When you say time limit, do you mean-"

"Defeat the opponents vivosaurs before ten minutes runs out or you lose the fight. You will be up in about five minutes so take some time to prepare." Hunter gulped and walked over to the bench. He sat down and thought about what he'd put in his will.

"What are you scared about?" Spinax scoffed, "we just have to beat up the dinosaurs, same thing we always do."

"In ten minutes. Do you know how many fights we've won in ten minutes?"

"…all of them?"

"….Do you know how time works?" Hunter thought about his plan to win, but the looming threat of a time limit tortured him until his name was spoken into the intercom. He nervously treaded down the familiar hallway, wondering if the level master knew how to deal with the time limit.

"You want my advice?"

"What is it spinax."

"Don't screw up."

"Wow, real helpful advice you got there."

"Eh, don't sweat it kid! I'll be here to help you out and watch over you."

"Like a spirit animal?"

"Yep! Go ahead and ask me for advice."

"(Sigh) spirit animal, what should I-"

"Don't screw up!" Hunter didn't reply, he was to busy staring at the level master ahead of him. It now made sense why dr. Diggins didn't want Hunter knowing who the level master was. It would probably ruin the-

"Surprise!" Dr. Diggins waves over at Hunter, "bet you weren't expecting me to be the level 5 master!"

"Dang it," spinax muttered, "I was betting on it being that rich grandpa guy,"

"Do you mean Mr. Richmond?" Hunter shook his head and turned to face the doctor, "wasn't expecting this at all, but don't think that I'll go easy on ya doc."

"I hope you know that goes double for me Hunter." Both Dr. Diggins and Hunter had the same confident smile as they entered the stadium. The crowds roars were drowned out only by the roaring determination that Hunter felt.

"Stego! Shuno! Dilopho!" Shuno was a large sauropod with grey skin and a large mace tail. Stego was…a stegosaurus.

"Spinax! Delta! S-raptor!" Hunter's vivosaurs stared down their opponents. A giant clock appeared on the screen showing the battle. 10:00. Oh dear.

"Cyclone!" Hunter needed to end this fight fast, spinax let loose a tornado at Stego. The vivosaur was launched into the air and crashed down with a thud. S-raptor ran behind shuno and shot a jet of flame at it. Delta dodged a kick from dilopho and retaliated with a blistering kick of its own. Stego swung around it's spiked tail, trying to hit s-raptor, the raptor nearly dodged and knocked Stego over with a head butt. Shuno brought its front feet down cause a tremor, all of the vivosaurs took a bit of damage. Hmmm.

"Blitz attack!" Delta charged at shuno with a veil of water surrounding it. The two collided with shuno reeling from the blow.

"As long as we can keep this up, we should be okay." Hunter told himself. What he didn't know was that a monkey wrench the size of spinax's head was about to be thrown into his plans.

"Harden! Then use wind spines!" Stego braced itself as s-raptor cane charging again. This time, s-raptor was the one to get knocked back because harden had taken effect. Glowing green spikes flew out of stego's tail and struck s-raptor.

"S-combo!" S-raptor attacked, but he was attacking the wall. The sinraptor was confused.

"Crap," Hunter muttered. Dr. Diggins was smirking. His strategy wasn't to beat Hunter, we wanted to stall out the match long enough for the time limit to run out!

"Someone tell that idiot to stop hitting the wall!" Spinax growled, "seriously who acts that dumb when they're confused?" Hunter suppressed a laugh, look who's talking.

"Counter!" Before stego could unleash more wind spines, delta surrounded itself with a shield. The shield exploded and hit dilopho who had gone in for another kick. Hmmmmm. Hunter's eyes darted to the clock. 5:37.

"Shuno combo!" Shuno hip checked into delta and sent it flying. Spinax charged into Shuno to knock it away from delta, but instead of helping, the raptor ran away. Delta had become scared.

"Son of a spinosaurus." Hunter tried to get S-raptor to attack, but it was no use.

"Spinax fang!" Spinax charged at stego, but stego dodges. However, dilopho was behind stego and had no way of escaping when spinax brought his jaws down. Dilopho faded away and was defeated.

"That's it!" Hunter internally jumped for joy, "His vivosaurs aren't tuned for this kind of fight. Since I went on the offensive, they were forced to be offensive to! The team synergy between his vivosaurs is pretty weak."

"Great, thanks professor." Spinax gritted his teeth as s-raptor tried to attack him, "now how do we use that?"

"Lead s-raptor near Shuno and get delta to run towards him too. I'll do the rest." Spinax charged at Shuno, s-raptor right behind him. Stego was chasing delta around. The dromeosaur spat water everywhere as it tried to get away. S-raptor began breathing fire all over the place. Eventually, the water and fire connected with each other and steam shrouded the battlefield.

"Cyclonic breath!" With 2 minutes to go spinax launch a laser at both Shuno and stego. S-raptor, being the genius it is, ran directly at the laser and was defeated along with Shuno. Now there was just stego left. 1:43 on the clock.

"Wind storm!" Stego unleashed his own deadly team skill on spinax and delta. Delta was blown away by the gale force winds stego was producing and was defeated. 56 seconds. Spinax disappeared with the rest of the steam. The battlefield was completely empty aside from stego. 39 seconds. Or so thought.

"Spinax fang!" Spinax had launched himself into the air with the help of the wind. Bruised and battered, he was 700ft above the stadium and was coming down fast. 28 seconds to go, stego couldn't tilt its head up to see its enemy. 22 seconds. A roar could be heard from above. 18 seconds, sparks could be seen in the air. 10 seconds. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2-

"GGGGRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!" Spinax slammed on top of the arena. Dust clouded the entire stadium. The ground shook, wind knocked Hunter off his feet. When the dust settled. Spinax was collapsed on the ground, but stego was nowhere to be seen. Not only that, but the stadium that had been designed to handle dinosaur fighting in it, was fractured. The stadium floor was cracked open, bits of stone was everywhere. The entire audience was silent. Hunter's eyes darted to the clock. 0:01. It wasn't changing.

"Sometimes you gotta improvise," spinax muttered before fading back into a medal.

Later, Hunter was holding up his new license to the sun. Level 6, he was so close to his dream.

"And soooooo close to a girlfriend," spinax teased. Hunter shrugged."

"Admit it, you're lonely. You're technically talking to your self right now." Hunter pulled out spinax's dino medal and threw it into the air, he let it fall with a thud.

"Ow!"

"Sometimes you gotta improvise," Hunter smirked.

Done! Now I know what you're thinking. "Cross, what happened to the scene on the docks with Rosie?" I'm just gonna flat out say it: Rosie is not the love interest.

Hunter: you might be asking, "but cross, why not?"

Because in the OFFICIAL fossil fighters manga, Rosie has a huge crush on holt. I didn't remember this until recently and made a last minute decision to cram that in there. If you don't like my choice, write a story exactly like mine and change it.

Hunter: woah dude, you're being a little hostile.

I'm not hostile, I'm just a psycho.

Hunter:… fair enough

Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you feel like it! (P.S. the next chapter is my favorite part of the original fossil fighters game.)


	24. Chapter 23

Journey of the soul chapter 23

EXITED! EXITED! EXITED!o

Hunter: …I'm going to regret asking, but why are you excited?

Because this chapter is my favorite part in the game! And I came up with a cool idea for when I complete the storyline for this and champions!

Hunter: HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm not that funny looking…

Hunter: That's not it, you misspelled exited.

Crap! Wait, you just did too!

Hunter: Crap! You don't own fossil fighters!

Crap! Enjoy! (Warning, this is where things get serious. Faint of heart should be prepared.)

A dark place, lit by only the fire of torches. A seal on the wall. Two watchful eyes. In the middle of it all, a coffin.

"WAKE UP!" Hunter Cloud fell out of bed with a yelp and wondered if he'll ever get a decent night's sleep without a cryptic dream or a very loud vivosaur waking him up.

"I'm up, I'm up." Hunter told spinax.

"Good, now get your foldax and let's go!"

"Foldax?"

"Folding pickax, go! Go! GO!"

"What's got you all excited?" (Cross: ha, spelled it right that time.)

"I HAVE A ROCK TO KILL." Hunter rolled his eyes and had a flashback of spinax banging his head against a rock. Mt. Lavaflow. Hunter got dressed and noticed that his roommate, Holt, had left a note for him.

"I'm moving out in a couple days," Hunter read aloud. Huh….okay.

"Does this mean I get the tv all to myself again?" Spinax asked.

"You don't watch tv,"

"That's what the tv wants you to think."

"How does that…nevermind." Hunter left the hotel and made his way to the dock, swinging his velociraptor claw pendant around and whistling. He got about ten feet from the hotel when he heard, "Hey! Aren't you the guy who just made level 6?" Hunter turned and saw a man standing in a Hawaiian shirt. Next to the man was a small kid.

"Yeah, I did."

"Congrats…I guess," the man said.

"Excuse me?" Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"It's just kinda sad, I've seen you climb up in the ranks recently. It's a shame you'll never be a master."

"Your career is about to hit a brick wall," the little kid sounded almost excited when he talked, "a brick wall called Saurhead."

"Why should I be afraid of someone with a concussion?" Hunter and spinax asked at the same time.

"Not sore head. Saurhead!" The kid yelled back.

"You just said the same thing twice." Hunter replied.

"Saurhead is the level up master for master fighters," the Man continued, "he never loses, NEVER."

"There's a first for everything." Hunter muttered, "some dude with head trauma doesn't sound that tough." Hunter jumped when he heard a noise in the distance.

"RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"

"Oh man!" The little kid was jumping for joy, "that voice! It's-"

"It is I, Saurhead!" Hunter turned around and came face to…mask with Saurhead. He was a tall man wearing a tight yellow t-shirt and black pants with flames decorating the bottom. On his face was a green t-Rex mask with red eyes.

"So you're the punk who got level six?" Saurhead snarled, "I'm not surprised, that geezer isn't exactly tough."

"…do you wear the mask to help with your headache?" Hunter asked.

"Don't get smart with me you little…what?" Hunter reached up and poked Saurhead's mask. The man and the kid gasped.

"Doesn't seem like a soft material," Hunter said to himself.

"RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!" Saurhead grabbed Hunter by the shirt collar and hoisted him into the air, "NOBODY TOUCHES MY MASK! Just you Wait maggot. I'm gonna rewrite your definition of PAIN!" Saurhead dropped Hunter and walked off, the two fanboys in hot pursuit. As the man passed Hunter, he said, "it wouldn't be a bad idea to retire. No one would think less of you, and you'd get to keep your bones." And with that, they were gone.

"Do you think the head trauma made him forget that the vivosaurs are the ones doing the fighting?" Spinax asked. Hunter shrugged and walked the rest of the way down to the dock. As he made his way to the edge he thought about all that's happened. Stolen dino medals, an ancient tribe with an even more ancient pyramid, mine car hijackers, a ghost pirate with a thing for pink ribbons, and finally, a crime boss who was also the chief of police. Could things be any weirder?

"Hunter!" As if on cue, Dr. Diggins called to him from the other side of the docks.

"What's up doc?" Hunter asked.

"Why do I get the feeling that we just plagiarized?" Spinax asked.

"I thought you might want to know," Diggins continued, Bartholomew Bullwort escaped from jail."

"Son of a spinosaurus!" Hunter yelled aloud. This won him some strange looks from the other people at the dock.

"Don't worry, the police and their new captain are hunting him down as we speak."

"Right." Hunter lowered his voice while spinax yelled some very non-PG words, "anything else?"

"Ah yes, has the idol scanner in your sonar found anything of interest?"

"Nothing yet," in all honesty, Hunter had forgotten all about the idols and the idol scanner.

"Well, it turns out that someone was willing to pay the bb bandits a lot of money for those idols, so finding all of them would help us finally get to the bottom of this. call me if you find anything!" Dr. Diggins waved and walked away. Hunter waved back and finally got on the boat to Mt. Lavaflow. As he watched the ocean churn back and forth as the boat cut across the water, he couldn't help but worry about Bullwort.

"If he does show up again," spinax said, "we'll just kick his tail and send him running for the hills again. It's not like he has some sort of vivosaur god."

"I guess you're right," Hunter couldn't help but shake the unease in his gut. The most dangerous predator was a desperate one. And then there was the mysterious organization that was willing to pay a lot for the idols. He already had a good idea of who those were. Coughhoodscough. Little did Hunter know that Bullwort would be the least of his troubles this morning.

As always, Mt. Lavaflow was blisteringly hot. Hunter was already sweating like a pig by the time he reached the rock.

"DIE." Spinax popped out of Hunter's holder and transformed into a vivosaur. He slammed his head against the rock over and over to no avail.

"Dude, it's not gonna work,"

"Then make me transform into that ghost crystal dinosaur thing,"

"I don't know how that works,"

"Then I guess we'll just have to wait until one of your girlfriends shows up,"

"…shut up spinax."

"Haven't heard that one in a while." Spinax gritted his teeth and launched himself into the air. He slammed into the top of the rock. The ground shook, but the rock was unblemished. Hunter recalled spinax into his dino medal before he slid off the rock and into the lava.

"I almost had it!" Spinax yelled.

"Suuuurrrre," Hunter inspected the rock. He hit it with his foldax, Nothing. He flipped out the edges of the foldax and tried again, still nothing. He sighed, at this rate he'd be a fossil himself before the rock was destroyed.

"Is something the matter?" When Hunter heard the voice directly behind him, he instinctively turned around and jumped back at the same time. Unfortunately, he jump right into the rock.

"Ow…"

"That is a rather large boulder." Hunter opened his eyes and saw Duna inspecting the rock.

"Called it!" Spinax roared in triumph. Despite the dirt everywhere, her white dress was completely clean. Duna seemed unaffected by the heat too.

"Stand aside, I will remove it,"

"Huh?" Hunter walked to the side in confusion. How could she possibly be able to move the rock at all? Duna walked about ten paces away from the rock, then pulled out a gun.

"That escalated quickly," spinax muttered. Hunter's eyes widened as the gun shot out a small yellow laser. The rock exploded on contact with a BOOM!

"Holy revival machine!" Hunter stared as the place where the rock once stood now had a severe lack of a giant rock.

"As you can see, the path is no longer obstructed," Duna told Hunter, "now you may proceed," Duna walked off further into the dig site, leaving Hunter standing there with his mouth hanging open.

"That is one strange girl," he told himself.

"You sure know how to pick 'em turtle dove!" Spinax laughed.

"I. DON'T. LIKE. DUNA."

"And I'm a vegetarian," Hunter sighed and walked into the new parts of the dig site. Lava covered most of the dig site, but the rock islands that were above the lava had plenty of new fossils. Hunter kept digging for a good hour. The heat was still unbearable, but the thrill of new fossils was a much brighter flame.

"Ya think we can find a t-Rex here?" Hunter asked.

"Why do you need a t-Rex? I'm all the teeth we need."

"It wouldn't hurt to have another powerhouse on my team. The holder has support slots for a reason."

"Can a t-Rex turn into a crystal ghost dragon thing?"

"Well, no…"

"Then don't compare me to a fiery crocodile. By the way, where are we?" Hunter realized he had absentmindedly walked into a small outcropping. Lava surrounded everything except the entrance and a small area that was blocked by…another big rock.

"IT MUST DIE," Hunter held spinax's glowing dino medal in his hands to stop him from going kamikaze on the rock.

"If you attack, we could cause an earthquake!"

"…I hate it when you're right," spinax muttered.

"That's why I love it." Hunter replied. He inspected this rock, it looked exactly the same as the other. He pulled out his hammer and slammed it into the rock. The resulting backlash made Hunter's entire body vibrate, but the rock was just fine.

"Oh my, another large boulder," Duna walked in as Hunter had nearly vibrated himself into the lava, "perhaps in the future you should not travel to a place with so many large boulders."

"hahahahahahahahaHA! Hilarious,"

"I fail to find the comical appeal of my earlier statement."

"I was being sarcast…nevermind. Could you make this rock explode too?"

"I suppose that is doable," The rock met the same terrible fate as its brother when Duna shot another laser.

"I wonder where she gets those fabulous toys," spinax mused.

"No you can't have a laser gun,"

"Shoot." Hunter walked into the middle of the outcropping. Suddenly, his sonar made a new noise. Hunter didn't look at the sonar though, some part of him already new where to dig. He threw his pickax (or foldax, who really knows at this point) down and uncovered….a tacky idol.

"This one is automatically my favorite," spinax stated without a shadow of doubt, "look at his little googly eyes!" This idol was much smaller than the others with yellow markings and big swirly eyes. Hunter picked it up and placed it in his backpack with the others. When he turned to leave, Duna was standing in the exit.

"Yes, very good job. Now hand over that idol, along with the rest of them." Hunter stood in shock, how did Duna know about the rest of the idols? Wait a minute…Hunter moved in front of his backpack and shook his head.

"Hand The idols over NOW."

"Sorry, unlike your pal Bullwort I work for myself and no one else." Duna's eyes widened for a brief moment before returning to normal, but that was all Hunter needed to confirm it. Duna was working for the hoods.

"Let me at 'em coach!" Spinax roared, "I got a score to settle with these clowns!"

"You realize that Duna isn't the one that beat you up before right?"

"Don't care. Tail must be kicked."

"Fair enough." Hunter's hand flew to his holder.

"So you plan to defeat me in battle?" Duna mused, "that altispinax you possess seems to be as untamed as ever." This time it was Hunter's turn to widen his eyes.

"She can hear us?"

"ALL GIRLS WET THE BED!...she didn't kill us in two seconds so I don't think she can hear us."

"Care to inform me about the topic of the conversation you two are currently having?" Duna took a step forward and Hunter took a step back.

"She can tell when we're talking, but not what we're talking about." Hunter muttered to himself. Duna's glare was piercing and before he knew it Hunter was backed against his back pack. Suddenly, a ring of light shot down Duna's body. Then another. Hunter stared in confusion while Duna desperately fiddled with her pendant.

"Not now," she muttered. A brilliant flash blinded Hunter for a few seconds.

"What's going on?" Spinax complained, "I just rolled in the holder and can't see!" When the light faded, Hunter rubbed his eyes…then rubbed them again because there's no way what he was seeing was real.

Duna's skin had turned light blue. She was wearing dark blue clothing that left he lower stomach and neck base exposed. Pink clothing covered her chest and separate dark blue sleeves covered her arms. Duna now had dark blue triangle markings on her cheeks and flowing pink hair. Her ears became pointed. Not to mention…A FREAKING TAIL. SHE HAS A FREAKING TAIL! (Cross: I hope you appreciated that description because I had to stare at a picture of Duna for five minutes straight to get it right. The entire time I thought to myself "this makes me a pervert doesn't it")

"Ah, good I can see now. Now WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE REVIVAL MACHINE IS THAT!?" Hunter didn't answer spinax, he was standing there with his mouth hanging open. Duna looked at herself and shook her head.

"Not good, the heat from the lava disrupted my hologram." She muttered. Hunter kicked his backpack backwards. Now he really doesn't want Duna to have the idols. She looked at him with a new ferocity.

"As regrettable as it is, I cannot allow anyone to see my true form and live. And since we have no further use for you, He will not be displeased if you are no more." Use for him? Hunter was vaguely aware that Duna was walking towards him with a ring of light surrounding her. He was going into shock. The clothes Duna was wearing…they were almost identical to the ones he was wearing when he had that vision of being tortured. It became clear to him. The vision was of the past.

"Watch out!" Spinax yelled, but he sounded far away. Hunter could feel a part of his memory returning. Being shocked over and over again. Screaming in agony. He now could see the surroundings of his past more clearly. He could see through the glass containment he was in.

He saw a younger Duna, watching a younger him while he was being tortured.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" A tail whip from spinax snapped Hunter back to reality. The stinging on his cheek was barely noticeable compared to the sight in front of him. Spinax was in vivosaur form, fighting what looked like the dinosaur form of Duna. It was a graceful light blue raptor vivosaur with pink spikes by its head and back. Pink lines outlined the creature's torso. A powerful dark blue tail swished around. It took Hunter a moment to realize that the vivosaur in front of him IS Duna. It also took him a moment to realize that it was heading straight for him!

"Crap!" Hunter jumped out of the way just before Duna brought her claw down on him. Spinax tried to head butt his opponent, but Duna dodged and kicked spinax in the face. Her foot claws raked his cheek. Spinax roared and fired a tornado that was met with a blast of water. The water traveled through the tornado and struck spinax while Duna managed to dodge the cyclone.

"Quickly, use-" before Hunter could call out a command, Duna charged at him and tail whipped him in the side. Hunter was sent sprawling on the ground and realized that Duna didn't want to have a fossil battle, she was trying to kill him!

"NOBODY TAIL WHIPS MY FRIEND EXCEPT ME!" Spinax roared an insanely loud roar that made Hunter's ear drums feel like they want to explode. Duna replied by slashing at Hunter repeatedly. Hunter felt one of the claws rip his shirt and graze his side, but nothing too bad.

"Cyclone!" Hunter called out. Spinax shot a tornado at Duna that pushed her away from Hunter. Hunter noticed another dino medal rolling along the ground. Does Duna have other vivosaurs? Hunter gasped as the vivosaur came out of the medal. It was a zino made out of pure steel, and it was about to bring a claw down on him.

"S-raptor!" Hunter's vivosaur grabbed on to the robotic hand of the zino robot and yanked it away from Hunter. The robot retaliated by firing a laser beam and both Hunter and Spinax realized what exactly spinax had lost to When Hunter battles the hood.

"Please don't go prehistoric now," Hunter pleaded with spinax while dodging another onslaught from Duna, "I need you to focus on Duna."

"Chill out dude, I know where my priorities should be."

"Wow, that's really matur-" a kick from Duna completely knocked the wind out of Hunter. He tasted blood as he hit the ground.

"GGGGRRRROOOORRRR!" Spinax shook the ground with his roar. the zino robot was pushed backwards into the lava and melted. S-raptor has to retreat to its medal and Duna was nearly blown off he feat. Suddenly, a translucent figure appeared overlapping spinax. The crystal dinosaur roared with spinax as he charged forward and struck with a punch that enveloped her in a tornado. Hunter slowly pushed himself up a few seconds later. Blood slowly dropped down his side. He noticed that. spinax's medal was back in the holder.

"I bet I could take that rock down now," spinax muttered weakly. Hunter smiled and looked at Duna, who was now in her human-ish form. She slowly got off the ground and staggered a bit before getting up. Hunter had won the battle, but with a long gash on his side and three punctures in his chest from where he had been kicked, he didn't know he was gonna get out alive.

"How could you possibly have done that? There is no record of that in your altispinax's abilities."

"How much…do you think you know…about me?" Hunter found it hard to speak.

"I know more about you than you know about yourself….specimen X." Suddenly, the ground started shaking violently. A drumming noise filled Hunter's ears.

"An earthquake?" Duna's muttered. A scream rang out as a small boulder land fed on top of Duna. The trembling subsided and Hunter stood in shock.

"Don't do it. Don't do it." Spinax lectured.

"You know I have to do it."

"…why do we always have to be the heroes? Can't we be mustache twirling villains instead?" Hunter ignore spinax and slammed his hammer into the boulder repeatedly. This rock was much smaller than the others, but Hunter's muscles screamed in pain from each swing. When he uncovered Duna, he checked for injuries. Nothing bad. He sighed and then realized he was holding Duna in his arms like a princess.

"Even turtle doves with broken wings can still fly," spinax said in a poetic voice. Color rushed to Hunter's cheeks.

"It's not like that," he protested.

"Suuuuuurrrrrrre. Look dude, I know you like what you like, but can you not fall for a dino-lady who wants to kill you next time?"

"I. DON'T. LIKE. DUNA."

"Okay, and that's not her tail that you're grabbing." Hunter realized that he had been sub-consciously holding on to Duna's tail. He quickly lowered her to the ground as she began to stir. She lifted herself up and looked at him in confusion.

"You…why would you….?" Duna and Hunter stared at each other for a moment and Hunter realized that he thought Duna was pretty.

"Ha! Called it!" Spinax roared in triumph." Another tremor rocked the ground and Hunter shielded his eyes. When he looked up, Duna was gone and he only had one thought on his mind.

"What is she?" Hunter tried to step forward, but staggered and kneeled over. As he slipped out of conscious, Hunter realized that Duna knows about who he really is. Whether he wanted to or not, he needed to find her.

Done! Sorry if you don't like the Duna fossil battle. I always thought that it was strange she challenged you to a fossil battle when she didn't want you to live in the games, but I'm not sure if I Ike how the fight turned out.

Hunter: I don't. I got the crap beaten out of me!

And whose fault is that?

Hunter: yours! You're deciding what happens to me!

…fair enough. Leave a review if ya feel like it! Thanks for reading!


	25. Chapter 24

Journey of the soul chapter 24

When we last left our hero, he passed out in a volcano like a total idiot. Will things be different this time?

Hunter: that was your fault!

No proof!

Hunter….I strongly despise you right now.

I get that a lot. I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

Falling, falling, falling. Hunter felt only the sensation of falling. He couldn't breathe or feel anything around him. He couldn't even see. He was just falling, falling, falling. Hunter tried to move, but instead entire body throbbed with pain. He started making out an image. Someone staring from above as he kept falling.

It was Duna: the only person who knows who he really is.

"Gah!" Hunter sat up quickly, awakening from his nightmare. Is a good night's sleep too much to ask? He winced in pain and noticed that his injuries had been covered in white bandages. Hunter moved himself off the bed and looked around. In was in a small blue room with just the bed and a desk for furniture. Hunter noticed his shirt and all his other belongings on the desk, so he changed into his usual attire. Hunter flinched when his side turned and sent an arc of pain up him.

"OH, ARE YOU TERRIBLY INJURED? CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE!" Hunter resisted the urge to laugh, knowing it would only cause more pain, "IT'S NOT LIKE YOU GOT YOUR EYE GOUGED! UNLIKE SOMEONE I CAN NAME!"

"Don't vivosaurs heal naturally?"

"It's the principle of the thing," spinax pouted, "by the way, where in the name of the revival machine's second cousin are we?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Hunter pushes open the door at the side of the room and entered a long hallway. Hunter tried to turn left, but before he could someone grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him backwards.

"Hey!, what the- mmf fm fmmk!" A gag was thrown into his mouth and a black blindfold covered his eyes. he was dragged backwards with no idea where he was being taken.

"well that was abrupt," spinax commented

"Ya don't say?"

"Sarcasm's my schtick, you stick to the optimism."

"Why the heck should I be optimistic right now?"

"…because it says so on our summary?"

"We're not supposed to talk about that." Hunter tried to reach for his holder, but his captor had grabbed Both arms to drag him and was not letting go. Eventually, they apparently reached their destination because Hunter had stopped moving. When the gag and blindfold were removed, Hunter came to see an odd sight. Rosie, Mr. Richmond, and Dr. Diggins were all staring down at him.

"I understand that whatever you want to talk about is important," Hunter said, "but did you have to kidnap me?"

"Sorry, my boy, this was the only way we could get you here without anyone knowing," Mr. Richmond scratched the back of his head.

"First question how did I get here?"

"I found you!" Rosie excitedly answered, "you passed out at the entrance of Mt. lavaflow with your spinax next to you. I think it may have carried you there."

"I did?" Spinax questioned himself, "I owe me a drink then."

"Okay," Hunter said, "that still doesn't explain the need to kidnap me."

"Hunter, the bb bandits have taken over vivosaur island." had an extremely grim look on his face."

"Okay, why is this a big deal?"

"What are you talking about? The entire island has been taken over!"

"By a bunch of misfits who don't know how to train vivosaurs!" Hunter ranted, "seriously! Has anyone ever told them that vivosaurs can be leveled up past rank 5?" Hunter sat up, flinching

In slight pain, "I could go kick Bullwort's tail right now! Where is that bigot?"

"He's in the Richmond building," said Mr. Richmond, "but you don't seem to be in any condition for the stress of battle. How did you get those injuries?"

"I…uh,"

"Got kicked by a girl that turned into a dinosaur," spinax interrupted, "Yes I do know that sounds a lot like anime."

"I…tripped on a rock and fell down a hill…a hill of cactuses (or cacti). Anyway, what's important is that I can fight, and I know that Bullwort can't."

"Woooooooooow. Great cover up, Sora the master assassin, sounds completely believable." Spinax chuckled. Hunter rolled his eyes and was on his way out of the warehouse when Rosie grabbed his shoulder.

"I'm coming with you." She said.

"Why?"

"Because I want to see how Bullwort managed to take over vivosaur island without vivosaurs."

"I meant that Bullwort was bad at fossil battles, not that he-…you know what, nevermind." Hunter let Rosie tail him as he stormed towards the Richmond building. As he walked, Hunter couldn't help but feel angry. Angry at himself for not knowing anything, Angry at Duna for not telling him anything about himself, Angry with himself for not getting what he needed, Angry that the people who have caused him so much trouble are back. Angry that he couldn't stay mad at Duna even though he wanted to. Angry that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand even his own feelings.

"Maybe you should try to get to know yourself," spinax suggested, "have a lovely chat over tea."

"I don't even know who I am," Hunter growled back.

"Stop being angry and start being weird about everything."

"Huh?"

"That's your character flaw. Always weird acting."

"…stop treating everything like a video game."

"That's my character flaw, never knowing when to be serious." Hunter slanted his eyebrows and didn't reply. He knew spinax was trying to help. He also knew that he didn't care, spinax needs to butt out.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is!" Two BB bandit grunts blocked the entrance to the guild area, "the guy who thinks he can-" Hunter smacked the bandit on the side of the face with his foldax and set V-raptor on the other.

"Tell your boss he just made the worst mistake of his life," Hunter snarled, "he ticked off a pubescent teenager with an army of dinosaurs and a taste for vengeance." The two bandits scurried away, not daring to look back at Hunter's piercing glare. He turned and saw Rosie staring at him with a look of shock on his face.

"What?"

"You're a lot different from the Hunter that helped me get my dino medals back."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"…nothing." Hunter stuffed his hands into his pockets and sulked over to the Richmond building. Strangely, there were no grunts in the building.

"Maybe they're all on a coffee break?" Spinax suggested.

"Who cares? Less people for me to beat up."

"Dude, you need to calm down."

"You don't know what I need spinax, you don't know anything about me."

"I know more than you think." Spinax became very serious."

"Stop acting like you know everything about me, cause you don't"

"…What do you know about me? What do you know about Rosie?"

"huh?"

"What do you know about Duna? What do you know about anyone? Apparently, you know so much about everyone that you think you can shut yourself away from the world and act like a prick."

"Don't call me a prick, snake face."

"Don't compare me to a worm lizard. I've dealt with your crappy attitude long enough!" Spinax's voice vibrated with annoyance. Hunter stopped in front of the door to Mr. Richmond's office.

"Well if you HATE me so much, then maybe you should just leave!"

"What would you do if I did? Feel guilty for the rest of your life?"

"Shut up spinax."

"…no."

"Shut Up Spinax."

"NO"

"SHUT UP SPINAX!"

"MAKE ME!"

"FINE! And when you do stop talking for once in your life, you'll see how much better I'll do without you dragging me down!"

"Who fought Duna while you were getting kicked around like a football?"

"Who revived you in the first place?"

"Oh, you're right. I should TOTALLY be grateful for you bringing me back to life so I can FIGHT MY OWN KIND!" Rosie was already halfway through the doorway when she noticed Hunter had stop.

"Shouldn't we get going?" She asked. Hunter didn't answer.

"Well then maybe you should just leave!" Hunter screamed in his head, "I don't need you! I'm strong enough on my own! I….I'm strong."

"So that's it."

"…"

"Not knowing anything for so long has made you doubt yourself."

"Stop talking spinax."

"You don't think you're strong enough to get the answers you need."

"I said STOP."

"And now all those frustrations that have built up since you first met the hoods are all coming out at once."

"SHUT UP!" Hunter grabbed spinax's dino medal and threw it at hard as he could into the pond on the floor. He felt the mind link between them immediately sever.

"What'd you do that for?" Rosie asked.

"None Of Your Business!" He growled back, walking through the door. Rosie looked back, trying to find the medal in the water. When she couldn't find it, she reluctantly followed Hunter.

"Ah, if it isn't the two reasons I will never have kids." Bullwort seemed to be waiting for them when Hunter and Rosie entered the room.

"Wanna bet that's not the only reason?" Hunter shot back.

"Laugh while you still can boy, before I freeze you were you stand!" Bullwort held up a dark blue dino medal with a black ring around it, "with the legendary vivosaur, frigisaurus, I am unstoppable!" Legendary vivosaur?

"Delta! S-raptor!" Hunter's two vivosaurs entered the room with confused looks on their faces. Delta looked around.

"Frigi! Make him suffer!" A blinding blue light filled the room. When the flash subsided, a towering monster nearly broke through the roof. Frigi was a giant blue apatosaurus with ice encasing its back. Frigi's piercing red eyes stared straight into Hunter's soul. He called out for S-raptor to attack, but before he did…

"Now here is an intriguing soul." The voice that spoke made Hunter freeze in place, his mouth half open. There was a new link in his mind, but not like anything he was used to. It felt like a stick was being plunged through his head. But what scared him the most was who was talking.

"You are much more interesting than these half-wits," the voices mused to itself. It was a cold, rough voice that sounded like several people speaking at once, "Tortured past, big dreams, secrets about himself even he doesn't know. You check out on all categories of a stereotypical hero." The voices laughed as Hunter held his head in pain.

S-raptor charged at Frigi and brought its fangs down on its side. What happened next could only be described as godlike. Not only did S-raptor's fangs bounce off like a ball trying to hit a wall, but it one swift movement, Frigi whipped its tail around and defeated s-raptor in one strike.

"How did you-" Hunter managed to utter before going through another surge of pain.

"Quite simple, you are weak and I am strong. We couldn't be more different. However I would say we have one thing in common."

"Wha-" Hunter watched as Delta was brought down with one strike as well. He looked down in horror and saw ice forming around his feet.

"We are both cold. Heartless you could say, without purpose."

"I'm nothing like you." Hunter felt the ice encasing him. He heard Rosie shout something before she was fully entrapped in ice. Bullwort laughed as the ice enclosed Hunter's ears, but the laughter didn't stop. It was coming from another voice.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Hunter, I am Frigisaurus. It would do you well to treat me with respect, unlike your last friend." The tear that rolled down Hunter's cheek. As the ice froze over his eyes, Hunter had on last thought.

Spinax was right, he wasn't strong enough, and he let that ruin everything.


	26. Chapter 25

Journey of the soul chapter 25

Shame on you Hunter, shame on you.

Hunter: I know I know, I screwed up.

Good, you admit it, now wallow in misery while I procrastinate instead of writing this chapter for the next week.

Hunter: But I can't wait that long!

And Spinax can't hold his breath for that long either. Maybe you should've thought about that before you started acting like a t-Rex that just got poked in the eye. I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

Hunter Cloud was never really a loud kid, he had usually kept to himself when other people were around. Right now, however, he wanted to scream so loud that every piece of glass in a five mile radius would shatter into a million pieces. After losing spectacularly to Bullwort and frigisaurus and being encased in ice, Hunter and Rosie were both thrown into a jail cell in the police station. Not that it mattered, he was still trapped in ice and not able to move. The reason Hunter wanted to scream was because of something he just realized: if he froze over just by being near Frigi, what would happen to the water in the Richmond building? More specifically, the dino medal that he had thrown into the water. Spinax would be trapped in ice and all Hunter could do was look like a statue that had fallen over while he stared at the ground.

"You should've been a better friend," He told himself over and over again, "you could've tried to- holy crap what is happening?!" Hunter felt himself being lifted up and put on his frozen feet. Rosie walked into his limited field of vision, she was out of the ice (aside from her eyebrows, which had a fine layer of frost on them) and was holding a her pickax. She looked at the pickax, then at Hunter. Hunter tried to shake his head, but he was immobilized. Rosie brought the pickax above her head. Hunter desperately tried to move. Just as the pickax came down, Hunter tilted the ice prison backwards and let it shatter on the ground. Rosie's pickax hit the ground with a thud, sending a shock through her entire body.

"Cold!" Hunter buried his face in his shirt as he tried to warm himself up. Cold, Heartless, without purpose. The thought of him being similar to the thing that froze him sent chills down his spine, along with the actual chills from being trapped in ice for hours.

"Tell me about it," Rosie said, hunter noticed that her skin, like his, was red from the cold. They were both shivering. Hunter looked around the jail cell. There was a old bed that was falling apart, an old toilet with….something in it, and…bars that were as wide as Hunter was blocking the door.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?" Rosie asked, "my brain is still numb from being a living igloo." Hunter walked through the bars and stared at Rosie from the other side.

"Y-y-you t-t-tell m-m-me." He said, his teeth clacking together. Rosie smacked herself in the forehead, then joined Hunter on the other side of the both slapped themselves to try and warm up. Suddenly, Hunter heard barking coming from the doorway. He slowly walked forward and saw rex standing in the doorway connecting to the police station. The dog jumped when he saw Hunter.

"You here to fight?" Hunter cracked his knuckles. Rex growled.

"Isn't that the dog from the BB Bandits?" Rosie asked, she crouched down to Rex's level and stared at him. Rex turned around and walked back to the doorway; he barked at them as he walked.

"I think he wants us to follow him." Rosie said.

"Why should we trust him?" Hunter whispered, "he's tried to kill us multiple times if you recall."

"Well, maybe you should start trusting people. They're a lot less likely to kill you if you're not a jerk to them."

"I just had a reforming character arc, don't make me go through another one."

"What are you talking about?"

"….nothing, let's just go with the dog." Rex managed to sneak Hunter and Rosie put of the police station. They kept their heads low as they avoided grunts patrolling the guild area. Hunter took a look back at the Richmond building and stopped. It was right there.

"Hunter!" Rosie whisper-shouted, "come on! We're almost at the fighter area!" Hunter wasn't listening, memories of abandoning his friend filled his head. All because he wasn't strong enough…

"You g-g-gonna wallow in d-d-despair forever, or are y-y-you g-g-gonna help me out ?" Hunter's head shot up at the sound of the familiar voice, "if this place drops two more degrees I'm going to say some very non-kid friendly words." "You still want to talk to me?" Hunter asked.

"Why not?" Spinax sent a mental image of him shrugging, "everyone has off d-d-days kid. Sometimes you g-g-gotta let them have their space."

"…I'm sorry."

"I k-k-know, but can we s-s-speed up the heartfelt reunion? I c-c-can't feel my feet…or head…or tail…or legs…or arms, dear god I have tiny arms." Hunter's feet were moving before he realized it. He heard a shout come from Rosie, but he didn't care. He burst through the doors of the Richmond building. Two grunts turned their heads and adopted sneers when they saw him.

"Well, look who's ba-"

"Outta my way!" Hunter slammed the side of his foldax into the stomach of the grunt and kept running. The Richmond building now had ice lining the walls and floors, but nothing slowed him down. The pond in the center was frozen over too. Hunter clicked the trigger on his foldax and dug the blade into the ice. A rush of fear hit him when he noticed that the pond wasn't just frozen over, all the water had completely turned into ice.

"I expected your return to be later, but I suppose I should congratulate you for exceeding my expectations." A familiar pain entered Hunter's head as Frigi spoke. In his adrenaline rush, Hunter had forgotten that Bullwort and frigisaurus would be ten feet away.

"W-w-who was that?" Spinax's teeth clacked together as he spoke, "is someone trying to do a better accent then me?"

"Ah, you must be the altispinax I've heard so much about," Frigi laughed.

"I haven't said anything f-f-funny…yet."

"Of course, it's just that I expected more from the creature this person considers a friend." Hunter tried to ignore the stabbing pains in his head while he cracked up the ice. BB grunts were running towards him. They called out two vivosaurs, a stygi and an alectro.

"You trying to start something, ice beard?" Spinax growled.

"Of course not, I wouldn't want to crush you now, not when things are so interesting. You should be honored that I would let something so weak survive."

"Weak?" Spinax muttered quietly.

"Uh-oh" Hunter jumped off the pond.

"IM GONNA FREAKIN KILL YOU!" Spinax erupted out of the ice in vivosaur form. Hunter slipped and fell onto the ice floor. As he slipped and slid around the room, spinax started taking down the grunt's vivosaurs as they appeared. Tornadoes erupted out of the ground, spinax fired off multiple cyclonic lasers from his mouth, knocking stygi and alectro to the ground.

"SHOW YOURSELF FREEZEFACE!" Spinax roared, "I'LL BREAK YOU LIKE THIN ICE!"

"Chill out dude." Hunter commented and he spun in circles on the floor.

"YOU GOT A CHAPTER TO BE AN ANGRY BUTTHOLE, SO WHY CANT I HAVE ONE!?"

"Because I need you to cool off so we can get outta here."

"ARE YOU MAKING ICE PUNS?!"

"I don't know, it'd be pretty cool if I were though."

"Leaving already?" Frigi commented, "then I suppose I'll just await your next arrival and crush you then."

"BRING IT ON!" Spinax roared and charged at the door to the Richmond office. Before he took more than two steps forward, a blast of blue energy shot out from the door and hit him in the chest. Spinax was encased in ice once again.

"Oh, COME ON!" Spinax tried to roar, but only succeeded in making a small crack in the ice shell. Hunter returned spinax to his dino medal and slid out the door. Rosie and Rex were both at the doorway.

"Time to go!" Hunter yelled as he jumped down the stairs and sprinted away.

"You moron!" Rosie shot back as she ran after him. Hunter looked down at spinax's dino medal in his hands, it was covered in a layer of frost.

"Ice-covered buttwipe." Spinax kept muttering.

"How do you know what Frigi looks like?"

"Frosty kept stabbing my head with Images of himself. Conceited snowman…"

"You got the headache too?"

"I'll give that melted icicle head trauma next time I see him."

"I'll take that as a yes, you gonna stop with the ice insults?"

"I'll stop when you stop eating raw snakes." Hunter rolled his eyes, but was smiling nonetheless. He would never admit it, but he was happy that he and spinax were friends. Even after their fight.

"You don't have to admit it, I can hear your thoughts. I AM APPRECIATED!" Hunter groaned as he ran to the fossil center, spinax laughed before calling Frigi a "frozen-faced, Frost-footed, abominable snowman with a cold and a bad case of ugly."

"You called out a vivosaur…in my house?!"

"For the record, he popped out on his own." Hunter desperately tried to defend himself as Rosie fumed over the real-estate damage spinax caused on his rampage. They were back at the warehouse with Rex, , and Mr. Richmond. Diggins was busy scrolling through a page on his laptop while Hunter dusted frost off of spinax and ran from Rosie at the same time.

"Apparently, frigisaurus is a vivosaur legend told by the digadig tribe."

"Then you'll have to get someone else." Hunter replied, "I'm not dealing with those hip-shakers ever again."

"I'm not asking you to." Dr. Diggins signaled to Rex and the dog ran out the door, probably to go get something, "it wouldn't do much good anyway."

"Yeah," Rosie nodded her head in agreement, "none of our vivosaurs could even scratch Frigi." Hunter nodded, bitterly remembering how much he got his tail kicked.

"You see what happens why you try to fight without me?" Spinax grunted.

"Didn't you get frozen in place by Frigi?"

"That doesn't count! Frostface didn't even hurt me."

"Suuuuuurrrrrre." Hunter turned back to Dr. Diggins, "so, what's the legend Frigi is in about?"

"Frigi is supposedly an bronto-I mean: apatosaurus fossil that was left in the depths of the ocean (cross: extra credit to whoever understood that dinosaur joke). The freezing temperatures caused Frigi to gain immeasurable power."

"Is there any way to beat it?"

"I didn't think it existed until yesterday, but I suppose if Frigi is real then it must be as well."

"It?"

"Ignosaurus." At the moment dr. Diggins said that name, Hunter got chills sent down his spine, "Igno is the counterpart to Frigi, a t-Rex fossil left in an active volcano, infused with the powers of a raging inferno."

"So…a t-Rex on steroids?"

"A T-Rex who's been to the gym ever day of its life and with no natural limiters on its strength."

"…we need it."

"Yep."

"Doctor," Mr. Richmond interjected, "by an active volcano, do you mean?"

"Mt. Lavaflow."

"But that means that igno's fossil could be submerged in lava!" Hunter felt like a balloon deflating.

"There is still hope, there is a man-made filter system in mt. Lavaflow, a lace valve of sorts."

"Where can we find it?" Hunter asked.

"I don't know."Diggins admitted.

"But we do." Hunter turned towards to source of the voices by the door and then immediately regretted turning. The BB bandit trio, in all their glory, were standing in the doorway.

"Can someone please just stab me in the gut already?" Spinax asked, "what are these clowns doing here?"

"What are you guys doing here?" Rosie seemed to have the same attitude as spinax about the situation. As for Hunter, his hand was already on his foldax.

"Calm down Rosie," gestures towards the trio, "they're here to help."

"Yeah, Bullwort hasn't been himself since he got that new vivosaur," Vivian rolled her eyes, "so we left. Seemed more important to keep the island from turning into an iceberg." Hunter wanted to ask about what they meant, but he already knew. The I side of the Richmond building was already covered In ice, if they were telling the truth, then the same thing would happen to the rest of the island.

"So you know where the lava valve is?" Hunter asked.

"Obviously," Vivian snorted, "we just said so."

"Watch it, I could send all three of you flying in a heartbeat."

"I'd like to see you try, we all know about how you got totally crushed by our boss."

"One loss, how many times have I beat you?"

"Enough!" Mr. Richmond bellowed, "you three! Say what you have to say."

"Well you see," Snivels gestured to Rex, "rex found a path in mount lavaflow with strange carvings on it while digging for bones. Problem is, we're playing both sides right now. We can't be seen heading there."

"I'll go." Hunter stood up and folded his arms, "I don't like being cooped up in here anyway."

"Can we get milkshakes on the way there?" Spinax asked.

"We'll Get milkshakes when we kick Bullwort's tail."

"One problem," Snivels replied, "the only one who knows where the path is is rex, and then only one who can understand rex is me."

"Great Scott!" Diggins yelled, "I have the perfect tool for this!" He ran to the corner of the room, where there was a stack of boxes. He dug in the boxes for a moment before pulling out a small metal contraption that looked like a wireless earbud.

"This is the doglish translator,"he explained, "I used it to know when my puppy needed to use the bathroom. It's name explains what it does." He handed it to Hunter and Hunter curled the device around his ear.

"A load of Posh posh this is." A British voice rang out.

"How do you know spinax?" Hunter challenged.

"That wasn't me!" Spinax seemed shocked. Hunter turned to face rex.

"I say, there is no way on earth this chap could possibly understand me."

"Doc…it works." Hunter muttered.

"It does?...I mean, of course it does!"

"Completely mad, the lot of them." Rex snorted.

"Wouldn't be to sure of that if I were you old bean." Hunter replied. Rex fell off his hind legs.

"I say!" Apparently, spinax is British now, "someone should get that bloke a walking stick."

"This is marvelous!" Rex was halfway out the door, meet me at mt. Lavaflow chap! This old bean still has a spring In his step!" Hunter chased after rex.

"Where are you going?" Rosie asked.

"I'm following a British dog to an active volcano to drain the lava out of it and find basically a dinosaur god. Holy revival machine, my life would be a cool video game."

Done! Bit of an origin story: I came up with the idea for this story while playing a different game entirely, And playing some of my older games has got me thinking. So for the question of the day: should I make another story alongside this one? And if so, what video game should I do a story on? (Know that if this happens, I won't update as frequently but new chapters will go out for both stories.)

Hunter: do a Sherlock Holmes story.

Why?

Spinax: Elementary, my dear Watson! These blokes who read the poppycock you make need some British in their lives!

Blimey. Leave a bloody review if you feel like it! Thanks for reading!


	27. Chapter 26

Journey of the soul chapter 26

We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year!

Hunter: it's not even December yet…

Tell that to my mom, she made me put up the Christmas tree.

Hunter: Well, knowing you, it'll be December by the time you post this chapter.

Ouch. Have a little faith

Hunter: Why would I put my faith into someone who doesn't own fossil fighters?

…just start the dang chapter without me, I gotta go hang up some lights. (Viewer discretion is advised. Serious stuff gets said.)

"Hey spinax, have you ever realized that you do strange stuff when you're angry?"

"I do a lot of strange stuff kid, you'll have to be more specific."

"When you're angry as a medal, you go into vivosaur form without my help. When you're angry as a vivosaur, you get that weird ghost crystal dragon thing above you."

"That's your fault."

"How is it my fault?"

"You called me pointy,"

"Why does that-"

"Hey mate! Are you going to stand over there with your knickers in a twist all day? Chop chop!" Hunter had forgotten where he was. Rex, who he could understand thanks to the doglish translator, was impatiently waiting for Hunter to join him in the main area of mt. lavaflow. Hunter walked up to the dog and followed him as Rex led the way to the lava valve, their only chance of finding ignosaurus and stopping Bullwort and Frigisaurus. The volcano was as hot as ever, but Rex seed to know where he was going so they didn't stay near lava for long. The two went into a cave that was surprisingly much cooler than outside.

"Stay close mate," Rex called to Hunter, "darker than the ocean's bottom in here."

"Rex, are you actually brutish or do you just really like the culture?" Rex replied by barking, so Hunter just shrugged and pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket. A small beam of light guided them until they reached a wall with a strange carving in it.

"I say! Look at that!" The carving was indebted into the wall. It was two people holding spears.

"Hmmm." Hunter put his hand against the indent and muttered to himself, "it's a puzzle."

"Anyone got a keymonite?" Spinax asked. Hunter wondered was spinax meant as he broke a slab of rock off the wall and carved the same picture out of the stone. Hunter's creation fit into the wall. The wall began shaking before it fell backwards.

"Well…that works."

"Indeed." Hunter and Rex climbed over the broken remains of the wall and walked further into darkness. They came across another wall, and another. Each holding more intricate carvings than the last. Eventually, they reached a massive door with no way of opening it. At the very top of the door, almost to the rock ceiling of the cave, was a full detail carving of a t-Rex breathing fire.

"I don't think your ancestors meant to be this tedious," spinax commented, "but they sure do have style." Even if Hunter could carve a t-Rex that fit the indent, there was no way he could reach it. Hunter scratched his head for a bit. He hit the rock with his pickax, but it didn't budge.

"It appears that certain assistance is required, "spinax said in his best accent yet, "If only you had something or SOMEONE strong enough to knock it down."

"Yeah, Yeah I get it. I'll just have to use my strongest vivosaur to knock it down."

"Exactly. Now, if you plea-"

"S-raptor! Go!"

"WHHAAAAAAAT?!" S-raptor slammed through the wall, knocking it down. A brilliant light shining from the other side told Hunter that they were outside again.

"in my defense," Hunter said Before spinax ranted, "All I needed was a vivosaur strong enough to knock down the wall, not my strongest vivosaur."

"…you built me up just so you could knock me down…that cuts deep kid…I respect that."

"Uh…cool." The outside area was a small clearing surrounded on all sides by rock walls. There were an abundance of medium sized boulders all over the place.

"Stand back mate!" Rex ran to the clearing, "I'll have the valve found in no time!" Hunter watched as Rex sniffed along the ground, weaving in and out of boulders. Hunter propped himself against a boulder and watched as the dig dug hundreds of holes into the ground, each one coming up empty. Eventually, Hunter got up to scratch an itch. He reached his hand back towards his back. But before he could reach the itch, his finger brushed against the boulder and he felt…metal? Hunter turned around and saw that the boulder was encased around some big metal object. Hunter took out his drill and slowly dug away at the rock to reveal a large wheel connected to the ground. He had found the lava valve.

"Rex! Get over here and help me turn this thing!" Rex ran over excitedly and the two strained as they slowly turned the badly rusted wheel. Spinax, of course, played the role of instructional coach.

"C'mon team! Put your back into it!" Hunter slammed his back into the wheel to show how ineffective it would be and to spite spinax. To his surprise, hitting not only knocked the wheel loose, but also snagged his shirt onto it.

"…I hate my life right now." Hunter managed to utter before the wheel flung him back and forth at a ridiculous speed. When the wheel can to an abrupt stop, Hunter flew 10 feet before hitting the ground.

"Owww." Hunter was about to get up, but tremors in the ground made him fall over again. It sounded like a plug being pulled.

"You hear that mate?" Rex took off with Hunter in hot pursuit. They ran through the cave and out the other end to find that mt. Lavaflow now had a severe lack of lava.

"Over there." Hunter pointed to a rock archway that was previously inaccessible due to the lava. He and Rex passed over the archway and were led into a small clearing. Hunter tapped his sonar, there was only one fossil in the clearing. With newfound determination, Hunter dug his pickax into the ground.

"I found it!" He yelled with glee as he held up a massive golden fossil that was scorching to the touch. He had found Ignosaurus.

"Huzzah!" Spinax exclaimed. Rex did a flip in the air, "watch out, frostface! You're done fo- watch out!" Hunter heeded spinax's warning, but it was too late. A laser beam shot from the entrance and hit the Ignosaurus fossil. The fossil became extremely heavy. It felt…solid?

"Hahahahahahaha! Good luck trying to get Ignosaurus now!" Hunter heard a faraway voice. The two raced towards the source of the voice just in time to see a boat with the letters bb on it motor away. Rex growled and gnashed his teeth.

"Blast that Bullwort! He shot the fossil with an imperva Ray!"

"…an imprev-what now?"

(2 hours later)

"I don't know what Bullwort's done to this fossil, but it's composition is harder than diamonds," Dr. diggins and Hunter were standing in the cleaning room staring at the rock, "Rex said it was hit by what again?"

"An impreva…improvs…impervert…" Hunter started muttering the different possibilities.

"…an imperva Ray?"

"yeah, that's it. An improvisional day."

"That's not…nevermind. At any rate, Bullwort has made the fossil impenetrable." Hunter examined the rock for a bit. With lightning speed, he slammed his hammer into the fossil. Sparks flew as a loud cracking noise filled the room. The head of Hunter's hammer was on the floor ten feet away from the shaft. The hammer had snapped in two.

"Now would be a good time for plan B." Spinax commented.

"What's plan B?"

"How am I supposed to know? It your plan."

"But you just-"

"Shut up. Shut up right now."

" WHAT DID YOU JUST-"

"Shhhhhhhh! Look behind you." Hunter turned around and resisted the urge to yell. Duna, in her human disguise, was standing in the doorway.

"Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream." Still, it was hard not to lose it when the person who tried to kill you is in the same room. Duna walked over to the cleaning machine and inspected the Ignosaurus fossil. Meanwhile, spinax was trying to get Hunter to stop from having a panic attack.

"Deep breaths. Deep breaths. In and out. In and out."

"Are you getting me to calm down or helping me through a pregnancy?"

"You're pregnant? Who's the father?"

"…shut up spinax."

"Who are you?" Dr. Diggins asked.

"My identity does not concern you," Duna replied. She took a few steps back, then pulled out a gun and shot the cleaning machine with a laser.

"Holy crap!" Hunter yelled as the fossil began glowing. Duna began to walk away.

"Hold on," Dr. Diggins asked, "the Ignosaurus fossil is back to normal. Why did you help us?"

Duna looked down at the ground and closed her eyes, "Hunter saved my life, I am simply repaying a debt." Dr. Diggins looked at Hunter with surprise. Hunter remained silent and gritted his teeth.

"If you will excuse me, I must be going." And with that, Duna left as suddenly as she had arrived.

"Hunter, catch." Dr. Diggins tossed a new hammer to Hunter, "at any rate we should try to revive the Ignosaurus." Hunter walked into the cleaning tank and pulled out his tools.

"You ready partner?" He asked spinax.

"Only If Igno isn't as annoying as freezer-burn." Hunter chuckled as he began digging. When the timer reached zero, a massive golden t-Rex head had been unearthed.

"Commencing revival." The computer voice stated. Flames encircled the skull forcing Hunter to jump back. A column of fire rose from the ground.

"Holy smokes!" Diggins yelled. Hunter endured the searing heat as the column dispersed and hot embers sprayed everywhere. He almost wished that the fire had remained: the monster it was hiding was even more terrifying. Igno was a brilliant orange color with red spikes covering its back and spiking its tail. The creature's claws were blood red and your could almost see fire in Igno's eyes. Hunter stared in awe for a moment before a burning pain forced him to the ground.

"WHO HAS SUMMONED ME." A new voice boomed. Hunter suspicions were right, Igno has telepathy too.

"My name….is Hunter Cloud." He said, fighting through the pain.

"Hold up!" Spinax interrupted, "who said you could join the party? Find your own human to annoy!"

"HOLD YOUR TONGUE, LIZARD." Igno roared.

"LIZARD!?" Spinax roared back, "I'LL SHOW YOU WHO THE LIZARD IS, YOU FLAMING FART!" Hunter drew in a quick breath. Uh-Oh….Wait, Why was Igno laughing.

"You got spunk kid! I like spunk!"

"Makes sense that Igno has the fiery personality," Hunter muttered to himself. Igno and spinax began talking until Igno got the gist of the situation. Hunter had no input whatsoever

"So, you want to take down freezer burn too?" Igno stomped his feet, "we'll get in line kids, I got a score to settle with that punk." Igno turned into a medal and clicked into Hunter's holder, "let's show old frost face who's in charge around here!"

"I love this guy," spinax lamented as Hunter rolled his eyes and walked out of the cleaning room. After a quick chat with Dr. Diggins, Hunter was prepared to go back to the Richmond building. Meanwhile, he couldn't decide if he wanted Igno around.

"Doesn't the term simile seem completely unnecessary?" Igno asked, "can't metaphors encompass like or as too?"

"Finally, someone who understands me!" Spinax roared in triumph, "Can we keep him Hunter? Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Hunter rolled his eyes. He reached the guild area where he was stopped by a BB grunt.

"I don't know why you haven't skipped town yet kid," the grunt said, "but you're off your rocker if you think you stand a chance against our boss."

"I can't skip town, this is an island you idiot." The grunt called out a vivosaur called jara. Jara was a grey pterosaur with a red fin on its head. Hunter's hand went to his medals, but Igno interjected.

"I haven't gotten to stretch my legs in 500 years." He said.

"How often do you get revived to fight Frigi?" Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"Happens a lot more than you think kid." Hunter pulled out Igno's dino medal, it was warm to the touch.

"Go! Igno!" A column of fire shot into the sky as Igno transformed. He roared so loud that Hunter had to cover his ears to stop them from bleeding.

"Distracting cry!" Jara fired off sound waves that hit Igno square in the jaw. Despite that, he didn't even flinch. Hunter checked igno's stats and his jaw dropped. 99. 99. 99…999. Holy crap. Igno whipped its tail around and knocked jara out of the sky and into a tree, defeating it in one hit.

"Wake me up when you have a real challenge for me." Igno went back into a Dino medal and Hunter continued onward. The ice that was once contained in the Richmond building had spread to a thirty foot radius around the building. But when Hunter walked by it with Igno, it melted immediately. Hunter called Dr. Diggins on his phone while he entered the Richmond building.

"What is it Hunter?"

"Get the police ready doc. Even if I can't win, I can still stall the fight out long enough for you guys to arrest Bullwort."

"Okay, got. Hunter?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

"Don't jinx it doc." Hunter ended the call right before he entered the office. Bad memories started coming back to him, but he couldn't back down now.

"Hey!" Spinax yelled, "what do you think your-" his voice cut off quickly and was replaced by a cold laugh. Hunter ignored the pain and kept walking.

"Look who has returned for another humiliating defeat." Frigi laughed, "I can't decide if you actually think you can win or if you are just a glutton for punishment.

"Why do you stick with Bullwort anyway?" Hunter asked, Hoping Igno would not speak and ruin the surprise. "And how'd you get spinax to shut up? I really want to know that one."

"Your first question can be answered very simply, this oaf keeps me in one place. My ice will spread and this island will become my personal frozen wasteland.

"But why? Why do you want to freeze everything?"

"Simple, all life, all these miserable people. They remind me of HIM." Hunter walked around the corner to face Bullwort, they stared at each other for a moment.

"Feeling a little too warm again? perhaps I should freeze you so bad you shatter into a million pieces." Bullwort's smile faded as Hunter began spinning Igno's dino medal on his finger.

"Feeling a little too cold? Maybe I should set you on fire and watch you burn." Both Bullwort and Frigi were dead silent. Igno laughed.

"This is my favorite part," He chuckled.

"FRIGI! DESTROY HIM!"

"IGNO! CRUSH HIM!" And with that, the battle began.

"Burning bite!" Fire frothed at Igno's mouth as he bit down on Frigi's side. Frigi hip checked igno away.

"Subzero stomp!" Frigi brought its front legs down. Igno ran out of the way, but ice shot out of the ground from the stomp and grazed Igno.

"Volcanic combo!" Igno delivered a series of flaming bites and kicks to Frigi.

"Absolute zero!" A wave of frigid air pulsed out of Frigi. Both vivosaurs pulled back, reeling from each other's blows. Igno charged in again with another burning bite. Frigi was too slow to get out of the way. The ice oh its back cracked as Igno bit into it. Frigi whipped around its tail and smacked Igno away. While the two behemoths clashed, Hunter couldn't decide if he was too cold or too hot. He jumped backwards when ice shot up from the ground in front of him and then immediately caught on fire.

"I'm back!" Spinax announced proudly, "what did I mi-…WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE!?"

"Volcanic combo!" Hunter yelled once more. Frigi made ice shoot up around him in preparation for Igno's onslaught. Still, that didn't stop the fire from licking at it. Frigi froze the air to create massive icicles that fell from the air. Igno dodged the spikes and shot a great roaring fire from his mouth that melted all of the remaining icicles. The t-Rex roared loud enough to shake the ground and charged Frigi while enveloped in fire. The collision shook the earth once more, but neither vivosaur was even fazed. Frigi responded by making a massive glacier rise up from the ground under Igno's feet. The roof cracked apart as Igno rose to the sky. Hunter yelled as roof caved in. He braced for impact…but none came. When he opened his eyes, spinax was in vivosaur form and holding the roof up with his bulk. A second massive glacier carried Bullwort and Frigi up to continue the fight.

"Get up there!" Spinax yelled, "Arson needs help!" Hunter didn't even roll his eyes, so now you know things are serious. He started his climb up the glacier, using any fractures and outcrops in the ice as foot holds. He was a good twenty five feet above the Richmond building when he reached the top. Frigi had made a makeshift ice arena and was making the ice shoot up and hit Igno.

"Volcanic combo, give it all ya got!" Hunter yelled.

"Absolute zero!" Bullwort retaliated. Water flew everywhere as Igno melted all the ice Frigi could create. Eventually, Igno managed to latch its teeth onto Frigi's tail.

"INFERNO BREATH!" Igno

Engulfed Frigi in a fire that looked more like a nuclear explosion.

"ICE AGE!" The smoke from the fire cleared as Frigi encased Igno in ice and sent ice spears shooting at him. But before they reached Igno, they melted on the spot. The ice Igno was trapped in began glowing red. Hunter could feel the ice he was standing in melting.

"Jump." Igno said curtly. Hunter didn't need to be told twice. He launched himself off the platform and called out delta.

"Water slide!" Hunter yelled. Delta created a stream of water that Hunter rose down to the ground. His feet touched the ground, and then the world shook with a fiery supernova. Hunter tried to look at the explosion, but the blinding light forced him to shut his eyes. When the flash subsided, Bullwort was passed out on the ground next to him and both Igno and Frigi's dino medals were in his hands.

"And that," Igno said, "would be my win."

"You sure surprised me," Frigi replied, "that makes the score 16-15."

"Your delusional, it's 17-15."

"You have a very selective memory my friend."

"Hold on," Hunter interrupted, "since when are you guys all buddy-buddy?"

"Oh yeah," Igno laughed, "forgot to mention. This was all a setup so freeze face and I could fight."

"…Pardon?"

"This was all our plan." Frigi replied, "all leading up to a climactic final battle."

"So you've both been playing both sides since the beginning, using us as tools so you two could fight."

"To speak bluntly: yes." Igno laughed again.

"WHAT THE HELL GUYS!" Hunter yelled, "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH SHIT I WENT THROUGH?!"

"Language!" Igno and Frigi said at the same time.

"I don't care!"

"Chill out." Frigi admonished, "sorry you got caught in our game."

"YOU TRAPPED ME IN ICE!"

"And I said I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, it's Igno's turn to play the villain next time so you won't have to worry about getting cold if you're still around."

"Wait…you didn't want to freeze the earth?" Frigi chuckled.

"Oh god no, I'd get lonely." Hunter smacked himself. He wanted to continue the conversation, but the two dino medals started disappearing.

"What's happening to you guys?"

"Since the fights over, we turn back into fossils and start the whole Shebang over again," Igno replied, "this is see ya later kid."

"Don't you mean that this is goodbye?"

"Who said we won't see each other again? See ya around punk." And with that Igno disappeared.

"It was a pleasure to have you as an adversary Hunter," Frigi said, "I daresay this is the most fun I've had as the villain."

"You make a pretty good one too, when you called me heartless I nearly believed you." Frigi was dead silent.

"Oh dear, you don't know."

"Don't know what?"

"Hunter, you don't have a soul." Frigi disappeared as well, leaving Hunter standing alone in a daze. It was a few minutes before he moved again, he turned his head to see spinax crash through the side of the Richmond building.

"I felt a great disturbance to our PG rating." Spinax panted, "it's as if…what's up with you? You look like you've just been told Christmas was canceled." Hunter blinked at spinax for a second before collapsing into a heap on the ground.

Done! Hunter isn't here right now, he's on the timeout chair because spinax heard about the bad language he said.

Spinax: he's getting what he deserves.

Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter in the reviews! Thanks for reading!


	28. Chapter 27

Journey of the soul chapter 27

Hey spinax, you think Hunter's been in time out long enough?

Spinax: no.

He's been there for three days

Spinax: no.

You haven't given him any food or water

Spinax: no.

Huh….okay. Start the chapter!

Spinax: …Wait, I blacked out there for a second. What are we doing? Where's Hunter?

(Sigh)

All of vivosaur island was buzzing today. Level up battles for master fighters was today, the final step for most people's fossil fighting career. But that wasn't why most of the people were crowding around the stadium, they just want to see Saurhead wipe the floor with the competition. While hundreds of people pushed and shoved to get closer to the stadium doors, waiting for them to open, there was one person who just stayed in his hotel room curled up into a ball under his blankets.

Hunter Cloud was awake, but he didn't want to be. It had been a week since the battle between Igno and Frigi. Bullwort was taken to jail and got charged for all the damages to the Richmond building (even though it was mostly spinax and Igno who either broke everything or set it on fire). The building got rebuilt fast though, but that wasn't why Hunter was unmotivated.

"No soul," he muttered to himself, "how would that even work?" After being told he had no soul by Frigi, Hunter had completely shut down. Word got out that he took down Bullwort, and he became a bit famous. Of course, this is what he heard from the letters he got from Rosie and . He hasn't left his room at all. Hunter turned over and listened to silence. It was certainly quieter now that Holt had moved out.

"Come On you slacker!" His coach yelled, "let's see those feet up and moving!"

"I just need to think spinax," Hunter replied. No soul…shouldn't he be dead if he doesn't have a soul?

"Excuses! Excuses! Today is the big game! We're not gonna miss that just because you lost your moxie."

"I'm not sad, I'm just confused. You wouldn't understand."

"Who says I'm not confused too? I just learned that my partner is basically a zombie."

"Heh. I think I'd prefer being a zombie right now." Hunter stared at the x shaped scar on his chest. The mark he got from the mysterious organization called the hoods, who also might be half dinosaur people. Hunter tried to clear his head, but all he could hear in the back of his mind was, "you don't have a soul." He got up, opened the fridge, closed the fridge, then started to pull on a shirt and shoes.

"Are we finally gonna go kick some tail?" Spinax asked.

"No, I need more chocolate milk." Hunter walked down to the store in the guild area. As he strolled down beside the docks, he stared at his reflection in The water. Aside from the bags under his eyes, he looked like a completely normal person. No one could've guessed he was a soulless maniac hunting down an organization while trying to be a master fighter at the same time. Hunter walked into the store, grabbed two gallons of God's gift to the world, and threw them on the checkout line.

"Come on dude." Spinax whined, "we should be at the stadium right now."

"We aren't going to the stadium."

"What about level up battles?"

"What about 'em?"

"Isn't it your dream to be a master fighter?"

"Dreams die, just like people." At this, spinax was silent. Hunter walked out of the store with the gallons in his hands. He set them on a bench by the water and sat down, listening to the sound of the ocean waves and seagulls for who knows how long. Memories played back in his head. A hooded person holding up his pendant, say things that would make Hunter lose his mind just thinking about it. Duna turning out to be some kind of dinosaur person. Being attacked and almost torn apart at the side by the same girl who can also be an actual dinosaur. Not having a soul. And to top it all off, not even knowing his own feelings concerning Duna. Hunter rubbed his eyes, waiting for spinax's trademark "turtle dove" response. To his surprise, none came.

"Hey, did ya hear about the guy who took down that crime boss?"

"Yeah, what was his name again?"

"I think it was Gunter."

"Yeah, that sounds right." Hunter looked over and saw two girls gossiping on the bench next to his.

"I heard that he's won every level up battle on his first try."

"You think he'll take on Saurhead today?" Hunter got up and grabbed his bags.

"I bet ya he's too afraid." Hunter stopped dead in his tracks.

"Really?"

"I heard that the guy's crazy anyway. You know Mr. Richmond's granddaughter?"

"The girl with pink hair?"

"I've talked to her about him before. She said he's a total weirdo that she has to drag around everywhere."

"Is he really that lazy?"

"Yeah. The strangest thing is, nobody's seen him in the past week."

"I betcha he's cheated in fights before too." They continued to talk about odd habits: killing and eating animals raw, snickering or laughing for no reason, staring off into space, as if he's having a conversation with himself.

"He sounds like a guy who should be locked up."

"Sounds fine with me, what a total dork." They both snickered. Hunter straightened his visor and cracked his knuckles. They think he's afraid? A cheater? Some kind of freak? Just because he's been a Shut in….well then.

"6…5…4" spinax counted down, "3…2…1"

"IM COMING FOR YOU SORE HEAD!" Hunter streaked across the pavement, chugging a gallon of chocolate milk as he ran. No soul huh….who cares! He let something small hold him back.

"You feelin' motivated now?" Spinax asked.

"Soul or no, I'm still Hunter."

"Well said good sir. Now, to battle!"

"But of course good sir, onwards!"

"Hey! Get your own accent!" Hunter chuckled as he sprinted back to the fighters area. He ran through a large crowd and moved in front of the doors to the fossil stadium, waiting for them to open along with the rest of the crowd.

"You still confused as heck?" Spinax asked.

"Of course I am, and I'm gonna find out what's wrong with me. You can bet on that. But now, I'm this close to my dream and I almost let confusion stop me. It's like everything else that's happened, I need to understand more but that doesn't mean I can let my dream die. I can't believe it took me this long to realize that."

"Blah, blah, blah, character development, character development, character development. Skip to the part where I can bite someone."

"You're being pretty dismissive for someone who wanted me to fight."

"Then I realized something very important."

"What?"

"YOU DIDN'T LET ME KILL FREEZER FACE!"

"You need to learn to let go of the past man."

"ME?! LOOK WHO'S TALKING!" Hunter was about to retaliate, but they were both silenced by a firework exploding in air, followed by a barrage of the Chinese rockets being launched. The crowd roared as colors streaked across the sky. Hunter grinned as the doors opened in front of him and a voice came on the I intercom.

"Attention all residents, thank you for your patience. Level up battles for the title of master fighter begin now!"

Hunter learned two things that day. One: he hated waiting. Two: half the challenge of becoming a master fighter was waiting for hours for your name to be called up. Most of the time he just sat on a chair twiddling his thumbs while he listened to the crowd roar through the walls. Note to self: bring a book or something next time. Eventually his name was called up on the intercom. as Hunter walked to the hallway, he noticed large numbers being displayed: 58:0.

"Is the home team winning?" Spinax asked.

"I don't think a game is going on." Chills went up Hunter's spine when he realized what the numbers displayed. How many people have fought Saurhead so far compared to how many people have won. Hunter heard laughing as he walked to the end of the hallway.

"Look who it is!" Saurhead laughed, "makin' me wait for this fight, you've got guts punk!"

"I bet he was picked on as a kid." Spinax murmured, "poor guy, no wonder his head hurts all the time."

"Since you're new here, I'll tell you how this fight is gonna work." Saurhead growled.

"All I have to do is kick the crap out of your vivosaurs right?" Hunter asked.

"You wish. If you want to be a master, you've gotta prove you can win a fight WITHOUT losing any vivosaurs." Hunter's heart skipped a beat. A flawless victory? No wonder no one has beaten Saurhead. The doors opened behind them.

"Hope you're ready punk! I'm gonna rewrite your definition of PAIN!"

"Pain. Noun: physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury." Hunter replied, "I don't think a rewrite is necessary." The ground trembled slightly with the roaring of the crowd. A slow changing of "SAURHEAD! SAURHEAD!" Echoed throughout the stadium.

"GUAN! PACHRINO! PELTO! SHOW THEM PAIN!" Saurhead's vivosaurs were surprisingly small. Pachrino was a smaller green tricera with an odd horn shape. Pelto was a brown ankylosaur with no spiked tail. And Guan was black and red and had a raptor-like body.

"Spinax!, S-raptor!, Delta!" Hunter called out his own vivosaurs. It was dead quiet for a single moment.

"BEGIN!" The announcer yelled.

"Blitz attack!" Hunter wasted no time in going on the offensive. Delta slammed into guan while surrounded by a veil of water. Spinax grabbed Pachrino's frill and shoved it to the ground. S-raptor delivered three short bursts of flame in quick succession at pelto. Guan evaded a kick from delta, but was powerless to avoid spinax looming over it.

"Cyclone!" The tornado forced guan into the wall. Pelto defended its ally by taking a kick from S-raptor while guan recovered. Pachrino charged at delta, knocking the dromeosaur into the air. Strangely, Pachrino didn't go for a follow up attack and instead backed up next to guan.

"Something's not right," Hunter muttered, "they aren't trying to fight back."

"Good!" Spinax roared, "makes it easier to do this!" He rushed at pelto, arching his spines. Spinax used his spikes as a wedge and flipped over pelto, exposing a soft underbelly. Spinax kicked pelto repeatedly until he was forced away by Pachrino and guan. Once spinax was gone, Saurhead's vivosaurs resumed their defensive positions.

"That's strange," Hunter pondered, "Why do they keep huddling around….guan….Oh No."

"Aqua Cannon!" Hunter yelled. Delta fired a comet made out of water at guan. Pelto And Pachrino immediately got in front of the attack and took its full force. Hunter's fears were confirmed.

"What's with you?" Spinax asked, "you just went white."

"He's not playing on the defensive, he's charging up! Attack Guan with everything you got!" Hunter yelled that last part. His vivosaurs charged at Saurhead's formation, tearing away pelto and Pachrino and unleashing a barrage of attacks on guan. Steam filled the arena from the fire and water attacks. Through the steam, Hunter could here Saurhead laughing.

"Gotta admit kid, you figured me out real quick!" Hunter's eyes flew to his vivowatch, "but you're too late to stop me now punk!" His heart sank. Guan had survived with 12 health.

"Great Unmasking!" A column of fire shot towards the sky and dispersed the steam. All the other vivosaurs moved away from the raging fire. Memories began coming back to Hunter. An argument about what the best vivosaur is.

"No way! Guan is totally the best. It boosts your lead vivosaur's attack by ninety percent, and when the going gets tough it'll Transform into a T-REX!" The fire dispersed to reveal the king of the dinosaurs. The T-Rex looked around for a moment, then roared with such force that the wind expelled from its mouth pushed Hunter backwards. T-Rex was red and black, with fiery orange hair lining its back. Pelto and Pachrino moved behind t-Rex. Hunter could swear that he saw the tyrannosaurus smile.

"Tyrant's roar!" Fire pulsed around t-Rex as it let out a deafening roar. Damage was inflicted to all of Hunter's vivosaurs.

"BRING IT ON MOHAWK!" Spinax charged forward, grabbing t-Rex by the hair. Pelto attempted to attack spinax's feet, but a jet of flame from s-raptor forced it away. Delta circled around Pachrino, attacking at every opening. Surprisingly, T-Rex made no move to counterattack as spinax yanked on its hair. Almost calmly, it raised a foot a kicked spinax in the gut so hard he was sent crashing to the ground.

"That…Hurt…..a lot…" spinax moaned.

"And that is why we don't pull hair." Pelto charged into spinax and hit him square in the stomach, however, not a lot of damage was inflicted.

"I get it," Hunter snapped his fingers, "pelto and Pachrino are more support than offensive. they play defensive while guan charged up enough fp to use great unmasking, but now they don't really have any use. That means a well timed attack…"

"Trinity burst?" Spinax asked

"Trinity burst." Hunter nodded, "Cyclonic breath! Scorch breath! Aqua cannon!" The laser beams collided with pelto and Pachrino, defeating them both in one fell swoop. However, while attacking, none of Hunter's vivosaur noticed t-Rex moving behind them.

"Bare tactics!" T-Rex grabbed delta in its jaws and threw it into s-raptor, knocking them both to the ground with a follow up hip check. The Rex would've finished them off with a fireball if spinax hadn't grabbed its tail. T-Rex lurched and the fireball was shot straight into the sky. The two massive creatures exchanged blows. For every headbutt from spinax, there was a fireball from t-Rex to match. Spinax was put through the wringer while defending its allies. S-raptor and delta would be defeated from any attack at this point and losing one of them would mean losing it all. Scratches and teeth marks covered spinax while t-Rex had small holes in it from spinax's spines. A tooth was imbedded in spinax's tail, while one of spinax's fangs adorned t-Rex's back.

"Cyclone!" Spinax fired a massive tornado at t-Rex, pushing the vivosaur into the back wall. To Hunter's shock, Saurhead was laughing.

"Gotta say, no one's given me a fight like this in a long time kid. But you know, you're pretty boring using the same attacks over and over! Haven't you ever thought about making up some of your own?" What was he talking about? Each vivosaur only learns a few skills unique to themselves….unless.

"Harden!" Spinax let the wind he generated surround him, boosting defense. Fire surrounded t-Rex as it slowly walked towards spinax.

"SUPERNOVA!" T-Rex rocketed forward, surround by flames and burning the ground under it. Hunter was vaguely aware that t-Rex wasn't touching the ground, but the blinding light coming from his pendant caught his attention.

"You know what partner?" Spinax said, his voice trembling with power. Hunter smiled.

"What?"

"I think I look really cool in black." T-Rex exploded on contact with spinax. Smoke filled the stadium. When the smoke cleared, a translucent figure was surrounding spinax, holding its arm up and blocking t-Rex.

The crystal dragon had returned.

"SPINAX MEGA!" Spinax moved his arm down and the ghost dinosaur copied his movements. T-Rex was launched Into to the air with a blistering uppercut and crashed down to earth. Slowly, it turned back into guan and faded back into a medal.

"I don't need new attacks if I go with what works," Spinax grunted. Hunter stared down Saurhead. The crowd was completely silent. Slowly, he pivoted on his heel and walked out. His plan was to wait in the common room where he could calm down. He couldn't even speak. The one thing he had come to Vivosaur Island to do was become a master fighter. Now, that dream was no longer a dream. Hunter stopped in the hallway and shouted.

"I WOOOOOOOONNNNN!" He began jumping for joy with his arms flailing In the air.

"HELL YEAH!" Spinax yelled in return.

"PG!"

"SORRY!"

"THAT'S FINE! IM EXCITED TOO!"

"WHY ARE WE STILL YELLING!"

"I HAVE NO IDEA!" Hunter composed himself, but couldn't wipe the smile off his face even if he tried. Unfortunately, he didn't have to try.

"Cheater!" An angry mob was waiting for Hunter by the time he'd had returned to the lobby. At the head were the man and boy Hunter had met a few days ago.

"Saurhead never loses!" The man shouted, "you had to have cheated!"

"How would I even cheat?" Hunter asked. He genuinely pondered how it would be possibly to cheat in a fossil battle.

"Shut up!" The kid took a swing at Hunter and hit him in the knee, "you cheating cheater that cheats like a cheater!...cheater."

"ENOUGH!" A voice bellowed from behind Hunter, Saurhead had just walked in.

"There was no cheating, only a well fought battle." Saurhead growled. The crowd fell silent. Saurhead tossed something to Hunter. It was a new fighters license, but instead of a number next to his picture there was one word: Master.

"Don't think you can rest easy punk, that was just my team for level up battles, I've got even tougher vivosaurs!" Hunter stared blankly ahead.

"….wait what?" Saurhead laughed.

"See you around punk!" The crowd followed Saurhead as he left.

"New dream: become best fighter in the world."

"Sounds dandy," spinax commented

"Looks like we're done for the day, time to go ho-OH MY GOD!"

"What's Wrong?"

"It's Saurhead! Not sore head!"

"What are you tal-HOLY CRAP!" Hunter, shocked by this new revelation, didn't notice the piece of paper falling from the ceiling until it landed in his hair.

"What's this?" He pulled the paper out of his hair and read it silently, "meet at the dock in the park area at the time you refer to as midnight. Come alone. Duna." Hunter's heart skipped a beat. What should he do? On one hand, this could be a trap. One the other hand…

"There is a hot chick that is waiting for you to meet her alone at night." Spinax finished for him.

"That is not what I was thinking!"

"Whatever you say turtle dove." Hunter rolled his eyes as he walked out of the stadium. He spent the rest of the night sitting in his hotel room and thinking about what to do. Should he risk it all for a chance to find out who he really is and what the hoods have done to him? Or should he play it safe and possibly miss his only chance? These thoughts whirled around his head while he waited for midnight to come around.

"Dang it!" Hunter punched his pillow while he sat on the bed. It was 11:58. Eventually he sucked it up and decided to risk it.

"Remember spinax, no talking."

"What if I feel like singing a soap opera?"

"You know as well as I do that she can tell when we're talking to each other. If she thinks we're planning something, she could kill us."

"Oh my revival machine."

"What?"

"YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON THE GIRL THAT TRIED TO KILL YOU!"

"Do not!"

"I was just joking with all the turtle dove stuff. I didn't think you actually fell for her!"

"I don't like Duna! What made you even think that?!"

"Every time you say here name your pulse quickens by 25% exactly, bringing your heart rate from a 68 to a 85, such action can only be explained by a emotional (and possibly physical if ya know what I'm sayin' *wink wink nudge nudge*) attraction to a person."

"…how did that sound extremely smart and extremely dumb at the same time."

"Simple! It was a smart thing said by me." Hunter smacked himself and walked out to the park area. He saw Duna in her human form looking out towards the sea. He slowly moved up beside her, but still a good distance away, and began watch the waves as well. She took notice of his presence, but didn't say anything. The two stared out towards the horizon for a minute.

"I suppose I should thank you for coming here like I asked." Duna spoke slowly. She looked away for a moment.

"As you may have already guessed, I am not Human. I am what you call a Dinaurian. You may think of us as dinosaur people."

"You mean, like an alien?" Duna looked at him in confusion, "someone from a different planet than earth." She nodded.

"I was raised to hate Humans for reasons I cannot tell you. I believe my hatred is justified as well, they are a selfish race caring about nothing more than themselves. So I would like to know." Duna's hand moved lightning fast, pointing her laser gun at Hunter without him even noticing she had it, "what was your motive in saving me?" Sweat rolled down Hunter's face. She could kill him, she could kill him right now. Spinax was sending waves of panic at his mind, unable to speak in case he might cause Duna to snap and pull the trigger.

"I…didn't have one. You were in trouble, and I couldn't leave you there and keep a clear conscience."

"Please," Duna scoffed, "you speak as if you…humans, have a conscience."

"What about you?" Hunter questioned, "What was your motive for helping me out with the Ignosaurus fossil?" Duna shoved the laser gun under Hunter's chin. Her hands were trembling.

"Do not challenge me, I will kill you I an instant if I feel it to be necessary."

"But you haven't yet. I've told you. You needed help, so I helped out. Not all humans are selfish jerks. We make mistakes, but most of us are good people." Hunter froze. It was as if puzzle pieces were clicking together in his mind. Duna is part of an Alien race, where they tortured him. Most likely during the six year period he can't remember. On top of that, he has no soul too. How did they even get a human child like that? Then words came back to him.

"Are you certain they are your bloodline?" (Cross: chapter 14) Hunter forced himself to say these next words.

"Duna…..I'm not a human…. Am I?" The gun fell to the ground as Duna dropped it in shock. She didn't try to pick it up. It was silent once more.

"No, you are not."

"Then what the hell am I." Duna drew in a deep breath.

"You are what is known as a hybrid. Part human. Part dinaurian. I would like to know how you came to this correct assumption."

"A guy who can't remember six years of his life, has no soul, and is being watched by aliens. It's kind of obvious if I look back at everything that's happened. So Duna. "Hunter's Hand shot up and grabbed Duna's neck, "tell me, what exactly is specimen X?" Duna's hand twitched.

"I wouldn't fight back. The only thing more dangerous than a desperate man is a man who has nothing to lose."

"You…were created fourteen years, three months, and twelve days ago approximately. The name specimen X derives from the alphabetical system you use. You were created with the purpose to find the idols." Hunter quickly thought about the idols, last time he'd seen them, he had given them to Mr. Richmond for safekeeping.

"That explains why I kept finding them without trying." Hunter slowly released his grip on Duna's neck, "now, what happened next?"

"You escaped us on a test run on earth twelve years ago," Duna seemed much more comfortable talking, "we deemed you a failure and sent a soldier to eliminate you, it took five years to locate you again."

"The man who killed my par….non-biological parents was one of your kind?"

"That is correct."

"You have no idea how conflicted I am right now, I thought it was just some drugged up guy going on a rampage. Then again, I killed him, so maybe we should call it even." Hunter felt a strange sensation. This was the first time he openly talked about his crimes. He felt as if he could open up to Duna, even though part of him wanted to bite her (probably the spinax mind link part).

"Yes, that certainly complicated things. We found you five months later, and began new tests to give you new abilities. We put you on a boat to Vivosaur Island and implanted false memories of wanting to go to the island. And now, the story most likely picks up where you began to have a clear mind again. This is all I know."

"Exactly what abilities am I supposed to have?"

"The ones that were shared with me include: partial telepathy, enhanced physical abilities, high pain resistance, and pyrokinesis. Having no soul was an unfortunate side effect."

"Wait…pyrokinesis? As in…controlling fire?"

"That was the intention, although it seems you cannot do that."

"Great! Just great! Not only am I some sort of lab experiment, but I'm a failed one too!" Hunter leaned against the railing, "I guess, if I did have a soul, it would be right here." He lifted up his shirt to reveal the X shaped scar along his chest.

"Hunter," Duna grabbed Hunter's hand, "I apologize for my behavior. I believed that Humans were nothing more than vile creatures, but seeing someone with only half human blood running through their body have the selflessness to help another has given me faith." She sighed, "I have to ask you. If there was a war between the Humans and the dinaurians and I was you enemy when we fought at the volcano, would you still have saved me?"

"Of course I would have. We were enemies already as soon as we started fighting anyway." Duna's face lit up.

"It pleases me to hear this."

"Duna, you're smiling."

"Do humans not consider smiling as an expression of happiness?"

"We do-I mean…they do, it's just, I've never seen you smile before." Duna immediately looked away, color rushing to her face.

"You have a nice smile, you should do it more often."

"You are a strange person, Hunter, yet very intriguing. I wish I could change the course of History and make you Dinaurian as well. We could have been very close…friends." She added quickly.

"I'd like that." Hunter replied, "but I think I may be okay with the way I am. A good friend once told me that once you accept what you are, you become better than who you are."

"Hunter, I have a question I would like to ask you."

"Yeah, sure."

"Does this still mean the same thing to Humans as well?" Duna leaned forward and kissed Hunter on the lips. His eyes widened for a second, then slowly closed them. Spinax slammed his head against something, making loud noises in Hunter's mind while resisting the urge to scream. Hunter instinctually put his hands around Duna's waist and pulled her closer. They stayed like that for a while until finally, they pulled away.

"Yeah, it means the same thing." Hunter said weakly. Duna smiled again.

"Goodbye Hunter." She walked away slowly Into the night. Hunter sat down on the grass and looked up at the stars.

"I am so proud of you right now turtle dove." Spinax sniffed.

"Are you crying?"

"You got the girl and then quoted something I probably said when I was drunk. I'm bawling like a six ton baby over here."

"You know what spinax?"

"What?"

"Today has been a good day."

Done! Do y'all remember when my story was just a retelling of the game and not all this crap? 'Cause I sure don't.

Hunter: What are we doing next chapter?

…next chapter, I'll do what I promised I'd do at 1,000 views.

Hunter:…..the revival machine told me this day would come, but I never believed it.

Let me know what you think of this chapter in a review! Thanks for reading.

( QOTD: Wow, you guys really like chapter 26, is this chapter better or worse?)


	29. Kind of chapter 28

Journey of the soul chapter 28 (sort of…not really)

I'm just gonna say it right now, there will be no story progress in this chapter. This chapter will be Hunter's entire past, complete with everything he should be able to do.

Hunter: what do you mean "should be able to"?

What are you doing here? I told you to not to come to work today!

Hunter: you also said that the next chapter would be my complete past. I'm never staying home again.

…whatever. I'll just go ahead and start.

Hunter: and I'll just go ahead and eat this popcorn I brought with me.

…Our story begins fourteen years ago, when the Dinaurians lost the idols and wanted to get them back for…reasons

Hunter: Where are the rest of the Dinaurians now? And why do they want the idols?

No interrupting! As I was saying, the Dinaurians decided that instead of Hunting down the idols themselves, they would create experiments to retrieve the idols instead. And so, the "specimens" were created, named after the human alphabetical system. If you've read pretty much any of my other chapters, you probably know that Hunter is specimen X. You may ask, "but what about the other twenty five experiments?" Well…that's a story for another time. Specimen X, aka Hunter, is a human-Dinaurian hybrid. More specifically, he is the child of a human mother, who's line of work was…interesting to say the least, and a Dinaurian father. Hunter's real father was a traitor to his race and had been locked up prior to the experiment. Both Parents were killed after Specimen X proved to be functional.

Hunter: Holy Crap, my parents were messed up.

NO INTERRUPTING! X was later experimented on to give him useful abilities for tracking down the idols. Here's a quick rundown.

Telepathy: he should be able to communicate with the Dinaurians with his mind. Instead, he can talk to…special vivosaurs.

Enhanced physical endurance/pain tolerance: Hunter can last 7 days without eating or drinking a thing at all! He can also be injured much more than the average Human. This was to make sure Hunter wouldn't have to return to the Dinaurians on his missions to retrieve the idols.

Pyrokinesis: he should be able to control fire, but it doesn't work. Why doesn't it work? Simple, because I say so.

?: this is what caused him to have no soul. This is also why his eyes are an unnatural blue color. What is it you may ask? It's a secret to everybody.

Hunter: I hate you.

The feeling is mutual, moving on! When Hunter became two years old, he was taken on a test mission. However, the Dinaurians didn't know that humans grow slower than they do, so sending a toddler out in the wild may not have been the best idea. They lost track of him when hunter ate his own tracker. Eventually, the baby began to cry when it became nighttime. The crying attracted a young couple camping nearby: Dexter Cloud and his wife Lily Cloud. After confirming that there was nobody else looking for the child, they brought it home with them and, after a while, adopted him. Dexter would joke that the child had been out Hunting that night. This is what eventually led to the name Hunter. For five years Hunter had a normal life. He went to school, played games with his parents, and goofed around like a normal kid. In Hunter's absence, The Dinaurians became increasingly worried that they would never find the idols. That is, until Hunter appeared back on their radar. The plan was to kill him and use his DNA to construct a perfect specimen, one without the free will that Hunter had to avoid rebellion. A Dinaurian soldier armed with Human weapons (It'd be strange if the police arrived to victims with laser holes) arrived at Hunter's house, killing Dexter and Lily. Hunter stabbed the Dinaurian with a steak knife and ran away in fear of the police thinking he had killed everyone and locking him up. Unfortunately, this did not stop the Dinaurians from tracking him down and capture him. Seeing how deadly Specimen X had become, the Dinaurians decided not to kill him. they began to run tests. Electric shocks would coarse through Hunter day and night. Sometimes, a young Dinaurian girl would be watching him be tortured, wondering what he was. Eventually, the Dinaurians locates the idols on Vivosaur Island and implanted the now Thirteen year old Hunter with false memories of Wanting to go to the island for some reason and buying a boat ticket. They guided Hunter to the boat in disguises and shipped him off. While Hunter was on the boat, he saw a magazine about different vivosaurs. With no prior memories and no idea of why he was even going to this island. Hunter fabricated that he was going to become a master fighter.

Hunter: so….I had a dream….because I didn't know why I was on a boat?

Pretty much. And that puts us at the beginning of chapter one. I hope you enjoy this little character bio, because I really don't know when chapter 29. Will be out. Let me know what other questions you have about Hunter in the reviews! Thanks for reading, and merry Christmas!

Hunter:…I'm never coming to work again

Works for me!


	30. Chapter 29

Journey of the soul chapter 29 (technically it's still 28 but I'm too lazy to change it)

You know what always bothered me about fossil fighters? The silent protagonist.

Hunter: Hey! I'm not quiet!

God knows you aren't quiet. I'm just saying, the game would've been better if the protagonist actually talked instead of just standing there with a dopey smile on his face.

Hunter: well, you don't own fossil fighters. So you don't get to decide.

Ouch. If I still had feelings you would've hurt them. Enjoy the chapter!

"Hunter!" Rosie knocked open the door to Hunter's hotel room, expecting to see her friend sitting in the middle of a mess. Surprisingly, the room was as clean as the day before Hunter started living in it. Also strange, the person in question was nowhere to be seen. Rosie walked into the room and took a quick look around.

"You'd think the newest master fighter would be easier to find." She muttered to herself.

"I am never found." Rosie jumped at the sound of Hunter's voice.

"Where are you?"

"I am everywhere. I am nowhere. I am…hiding under the bed because people won't leave me alone."

"Well, you are a master fighter now, what did you expect?" Rosie crouched down and looked under the bed. Hunter was scrunched up with his back pressed against the wall.

"¡Hola señorita!" Hunter waved with his left arm because he was laying on his other. Rosie shook her head, trying not to laugh.

"I told you, you should've hid with your back to the ground," spinax criticized, "amateur, it's like you've never hidden under a bed before."

"That's because I haven't." Hunter turned back to Rosie, "so what's up?"

"Dr. Diggins and Mr. Richmond found something amazing inside those idols you found. There's technology in them like we've never seen! You've gotta come back to the lab with me!"

"You've gotta be joking!" Hunter replied, "no seriously, please be joking." He added in his head. Hiding from a newfound fan base wasn't the only reason he was under the bed. It was also the quietest place in his room. He was trying to solve a puzzle about what has happened in the past few days. Unfortunately, Rosie just for another piece into the puzzle and it wasn't a very good one.

"Another reason we can't give the idols up to the Dinaurians." Spinax groaned.

"Right." Dinaurians. The alien race that wanted the idols…and the ones who created the freak that is himself. Even though he recently learned that he is some hybrid monster that isn't human, he wasn't nearly as rattled as he thought he'd be. Still, if there is tech in the idols, that means they are used for something. Considering the only Dinaurian Hunter has met tried to kill him, he wasn't too keen on letting them have their way.

"Ah yes, the hot dinosaur chick who tried to kill you one day and kissed you the next." Spinax lamented.

"You are so strange."

"It's your mind. I'm just repeating what you're thinkin'"

"You gonna stay under there all day?" Rosie asked.

"Maybe." Hunter replied.

"Why? I just told you we gotta go."

"Simple. I'm stuck."

After being wrenched free from the bed with some rope, Hunter followed Rosie outside. He paused for a moment when they passed by the fossil center without going in.

"Wait, aren't we going to the lab?"

"We are! The secret lab at my house." Secret lab? Strange, "c'mon, hurry up!" She grabbed his wrist and Hunter felt a nostalgic sense of despair wash over him.

"Your fate has been sealed." Spinax said in a strange voice."

"Shut up Spinax." Hunter groaned as Rosie dragged him across the pavement by his wrist. Eventually they reached the Richmond building, as Hunter's head slammed against each individual step, he noticed that the guard who usually stood outside was no longer there. Also, it was…eerily quiet. As if the world was holding its breath.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He muttered to himself.

"Wait a minute," spinax intervened, "did you just…REFERENCE?"

"What are you….Crap."

"YOU DID!" Spinax burst out laughing, "you're finally speakin' my language!" Hunter lifted himself up with a groan as Rosie let go of him. When they walked through the door, Rosie immediately screamed.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" She yelled. Hunter looked over her shoulder and saw a strange looking creature. It was completely yellow except for a few red spots. It was up to Hunter's knee and had a triangular head. Its tail swung back and forth when it saw them.

"Is that a giant rat?" Hunter walked towards the animal. It jumped away with a hiss and scurried out the door.

"Creepy," Rosie muttered, "why would our housekeeper let something like that in?"

"Uh, Rosie?"

"What?"

"Remember when you told me about your secret lab."

"Yeah."

"I don't think it's a secret anymore." Hunter gestured towards the wall where there are usually a few palm trees growing In large pots. The pots had been moved aside to reveal a steel door that was ajar.

"It's in the basement!" Spinax yelled, "quickly, shoot the basement with a laser beam before the Android escapes!"

"What the heck are you talking about?!"

"Just go through the door." Hunter opened the door the rest of the way. He and Rosie began descending the staircase that lay before them. They eventually reached another steel door.

"Is there enough room for a vivosaur in the lab?"

"Maybe a small one, why do you want to know?"

"No reason…"

"Hunter, if you destroy my house again I swear to-"

"In we go!" Hunter kicked open the door while facing Rosie and laughing nervously. He closed his eyes, expecting Rosie to hit him. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes and saw that Rosie had a terrified expression on her face. Slowly, Hunter turned around.

Two Dinaurians were in the lab. One had blue hair and clothes of varying colors from green to bronze to blue. The other was Duna.

"What…how…who?" Rosie stuttered. Hunter's hand flew to the handle of his foldax.

"I would not recommend that." The blue haired Dinaurian sneered, "then again, you never did listen to me."

"What?" Hunter looked behind the two, avoiding Duna's gaze. There were three empty spots behind them. on the fourth spot was the green idol.

"What are you and what are you doing here?" Rosie asked impatiently, "where is my grandfather?!"

"To answer your question, human, we are the Dinaurians."

"Aliens?" Rosie gasped.

"Yes, my name is Raptin. It would do you well to remember that name."

"What do you want with the idols?" Hunter asked threateningly. To his surprise, Raptin laughed.

"The idolcomps? Simple. We need them to achieve our goal, the disappearance of the human race." Hunter froze in place. No one spoke, not even spinax. Hunter's hand switched from his foldax to his medal holder.

"Oh come now Hunter, you know that won't work." Hunter stopped at the mention of his name.

"How do you…"

"Know your name? You told me." Raptin pressed a button on his pendant. A similar ring of light from when Duna got rid of her disguise shot down Raptin. One blinding flash later, Raptin looked completely different. He was wearing a brown cloak and his face was concealed by…a hood.

"Long time no see." Spinax growled, "as a matter of fact, how about we never see you again?" Hunter bit his lip so hard he tasted blood. Raptin changed back to his regular form.

"I've rather enjoyed this chat, but we really must be on our way."

"What just happened? Wait a minute." Rosie paused, "…Duna?" Duna avoided Rosie's eyes. Hunter saw Raptin Hold something in his hand.

"But first, a preview of what is to come!" Before Hunter could react, Raptin fires a laser straight at Rosie. She became enveloped in a cloud of smoke. One second later, standing in Rosie's place was the same mouse creature from before wearing her hat. Hunter's jaw dropped.

"Put me in coach!" Spinax yelled, "someone needs to avenge that rat!"

"I don't want to bring the whole place down on top of us." Rat Rosie scurried around, squeaking hopelessly.

"A much more fitting form for human trash." Raptin muttered. Rat Rosie squeaked furiously and charged at the Dinaurians. She latched her new jaws onto Raptin and refused to let go.

"Stupid beast!" Raptin threw Rosie off and she hit the ground with a thud. Hunter's feet were moving before he realized it. His hand flew to his foldax and as he brought it over his head, his finger pulled the trigger. The blades flipped outwards and swung down towards Raptin.

"Die!" He yelled Raptin held something else in his hand and pressed a button on it. Hunter dropped his foldax and recoiled in pain as a series of electric shocks coursed through him. He screamed in pain while Raptin laughed. Spinax roared and through the agony, Hunter could see the medal flicker with light. He was trying to transform into a vivosaur on his own.

"Stop!" The pain subsided, leaving Hunter a shriveled mess on the floor, gasping for breath. Duna was standing in front of Raptin, blocking whatever he was doing to hurt Hunter, "we have all the idolcomps, we should leave. There is no need to continue this.

"Stand aside Duna, unless you wish to understand X's pain."

"Shut up." Hunter muttered. They both turned their attention to him.

"Oh?" Raptin sneered, "does the hero wish to make one final stand?" Hunter forced himself to stand up, glaring at Raptin. The hood. The one who started this whole mess in the first place.

"You know nothing about my pain." Hunter felt a new pain, but this was nothing like anything else. It was a searing heat in his right eye. It kept him alert and was the only thing between him and passing out.

"Raptin, we should leave NOW."

"Stay out of my way Duna, or I will report you to king Dynal." So the Dinaurian king had a name. He didn't know why, but hearing that name increased the pain coming from his eye. Duna slowly stepped out of the way. Hunter growled like spinax as he menacing stepped forward. Raptin pretended to think to himself.

"Now, let us try another experiment." Raptin pulled out the same laser he used on Rosie. "What is the family tree of a creature that has no family?" The laser pierced Hunter's chest and he flew backwards, slamming into the wall.

"How boring," Raptin sighed, "oh well, that should keep you out of commission for a bit." His hand moved to his neck. Suddenly, his face contorted into surprise.

"I seem to have misplaced my pendant. Duna, allow me to use yours." Before she could answer, Raptin pulled the pendant of her neck and pressed a button on it. Orange rings of light shot up from the ground in the location Raptin pointed the pendant. He stepped into the rings and disappeared. Hunter couldn't see anymore.

"Hunter….I am so sorry." Hunter heard someone crying before blacking out completely…

…..

…..

…

…..

…

…

Dark….

Dark and cold…

Dark, Cold, and Quiet…

How long has it been? He couldn't remember. Was he sleeping? No, if he was sleeping then it wouldn't be hurting. Hunter kept thinking back to that one moment. The moment nothing else mattered but him and the person he was holding in his arms. But he can't focus on that. That'll never happen again.

"Never say never turtle dove,"

"Spinax? How are you here? I'm unconscious."

"I'm either connecting with your mind on a deeper level than before, or I'm a concoction of your imagination that appeared when you bumped your head. Who knows?"

"…okay."

"Anyway, we got a new goal now. Stop aliens from destroying the human race."

"That sounds like a movie."

"Or a video game, but we can't do that if you stay dead."

"I'm dead? Are you serious?"

"Nothing I say is serious, now GET UP!" Those last words echoed in Hunter's head until he opened his eyes. He was laying on a pink bed that was really squeaky. Wait a minute…this is Rosie's room. And the squeaking…

"Squeak squeak!" Rat Rosie jumped into view from the floor, Hunter just stared for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Squeak!" Rosie grabbed Hunter's ear with her teeth and yanked him into the floor.

"Ow! Why are you so heavy?" Rat Rosie lifted her nose into the air and walked out. Hunter followed her until they were at Mr. Richmond's office. Mr. Richmond was there along with Dr. Diggins.

"Hunter!" Mr. Richmond exclaimed upon seeing him, "are you all right young man?"

"I'm fine, I'm more worried about what those guys plan to do rather than what they did to me."

"We saw the whole thing on the building's security camera's when we got here," Diggins explained, "an alien race similar to dinosaurs. How interesting? Could they have been the next step in evolution for dinosaurs?"

"Doc?" Hunter tapped the doctor on the head before he started ranting, "would really like to know your plan for stopping the FASCINATING aliens that want to KILL US."

"I don't believe that is their plan." Diggins rested his hand on his chin, "if they wanted the extinction of the human race, they would have killed you both, unless you're both incredibly lucky."

"Have you met Rosie?"

"Fair point." Rat Rosie, who was sitting like a dog on Mr. Richmond's lap, started squeaking and Jumping up and down.

"Oh dear," Mr. Richmond furrowed his brow, "I wish I could make you feel better granddaughter. Should I go get some cheese?"

"With all due respect, she isn't a mouse or a rat," Diggins interjected, "She is a triconodonta(Cross: I think that's what it was called) a early mammal that could've evolved into a human."

"Big rat," spinax exclaimed, "got it."

"Guys?" Hunter interrupted, "the tricono-Whatever has something in her mouth." Rosie spat something down at Dr. Diggins feet. He picked it up and his face lit up.

"This is the same pendant that one of the Dinaurians was wearing! Good job Rosie! Now we can learn more about them!" Hunter walked over. It was raptin's pendant. Rosie must have taken it when she bit him.

"Now Doctor, Don't go pushing any buttons." Mr. Richmond Warned.

"Push all the buttons at the same time."

"Shut up Spinax."

"You never let me have any fun."

"If I did, we'd both be dead."

"Don't worry!" Diggins laughed, "I'm not that car-a-a-ACHOO!" Diggins sneezed and Hunter heard a small clicking noise.

"Oops."

"Son of a spinosaurus." Orange rings began surrounding Hunter and Dr. Diggins.

"To infinity and beyond!" Spinax cried. In a blinding flash, the two disappeared.

Done! As much as I like this part of the game. Gameplay wise, I think it's kind of lame. That's why there is going to be a change from the "canonical" way that stuff happens in later chapters.

Hunter:…

You dead?

Hunter: silent protagonists don't talk

(Sigh) you need to let things go man.

Hunter: I can't, it's a character flaw that SOMEONE gave me.

I regret nothing. Thanks for reading!


	31. Chapter 30

Journey of the soul chapter 30

Everyone enjoy the holidays? Yes? No? You got caught under mistletoe with your grandma? Well hopefully you've all had a nice break from me and my insanity.

Hunter: those guys are lucky, I never get a break.

Literally and figuratively.

Hunter: Hey, isn't this chapter 30?

Great Scott! I've been typing on a tiny phone for 9 months…is that impressive or sad?

Hunter: impressive enough to get 2,000 views, but sad enough to not own fossil fighters.

Eh…I'll take what I can get. Enjoy the chapter!

"Doc?"

"Yes Hunter?"

"Next time you mess with alien tech, make sure your allergies are kept in check."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. Now, with that out of the way…HOLY CRAP WE ARE ON A SPACESHIP!" Hunter bolted across the shiny silver floor of the ship to stare out the window. Through the glass he could see numerous stars as clearly as the night sky. Earth was a large blue ball in the distance.

"Remarkable," Dr. Diggins was admiring the complex looking teleportation device they just walked out of. "By reacting to the pendants signal, this machine instantly transmitted us by separating our atoms and reconfiguring them here in a matter of nanoseconds!"

"Is that why I'm suddenly double jointed?" Hunter joked.

"Gafarghgaffedhgargh," spinax gargled.

"Let me guess, you're pretending like your brain is fried from teleporting."

"How did you find my source material?" Hunter shrugged. Suddenly, an idea came to him.

"Doc, we're on the Dinaurian ship right?"

"I'd assume so."

"Then that means there's nothing stopping us from getting the idols back right now!" Hunter dashed towards the door to the right, but nearly choked when Diggins grabbed his shirt collar.

"Stay completely silent." Hunter looked up at Diggins with confusion until he noticed it too. There was a Dinaurian in the room who had spotted them. They both stared for a second at a member of the alien race bent of human destruction.

"Hey guys! What is with your disguises? Pretty silly looking, even for humans."

"Do the Dinaurians not know what contractions are?" Spinax asked. "Just once once I want to hear the word can't come out of their mouths" Hunter was too shocked to answer spinax's questions. The Dinaurians, the people who consider themselves much smarter than humans, can't tell their own disguises from actual humans. While dr. Diggins made an excuse to the Dinaurian as to why they couldn't get rid of their "disguises", hunter just sat there with a blank look on his face. When the Dinaurian left, he let out a breath he didn't realize that he was holding in.

"That was a little to close for comfort," Dr. Diggins commented, "let's try and get back to our own planet." They walked back to the teleportation machine and Dr. Diggins pressed the same button he had before (this time it was on purpose). One blinding flash later, they were back in mr. Richmond's office, exactly as they were before.

"Dear lord!" Mr. Richmond gasped. Rosie squeaked in shock, "where on earth did you two go?"

"Not on earth," Hunter commented, holding the pendant. As Dr. Diggins explained what just occurred to mr. Richmond, Hunter noticed something strange about the pendant.

"If the first button teleports, then the second button…."

"That's a really bad idea," spinax commented,"

"If I can find the button that makes me looks like the hood, then I can sneak onto the ship,"

"IF that's the right button."

"It's the only other button." Hunter rolled his eyes. He pressed the second button on the pendant and kneeled over in pain when a series of jolts of electricity coursed through him.

"What I'm worried about is if this has anything to do with the secret- Hunter! Are you okay?" Dr. Diggins asked.

"I immediately regret that decision." Hunter fidgeted on the floor while he stared at the pendant, "oh look, there's a button on the back." Spinax howled with laughter.

"You know there was a third button the whole time didn't you."

"I plea the fifth."

"Get caught in a grease fire you overgrown salamander."

"I'm sensing high levels of hostility."

"You can be mad when you get shocked with 60 volts."

"It was closer to 58"

"Shut up spinax." Hunter clicked the third button as he stood up collective gasps ensued as he stood up and looked at himself. He was now wearing a brown cloak exactly like raptin's human disguise.

"Amazing!" Diggins poked hunter's arm, the cloak dematerialized around that area to reveal Hunter's bare skin, "holographic projection onto oneself to create a disguise! Genius!"

"Does this mean that the Dinaurians could be hiding among regular people on vivosaur island?" Mr. Richmond became extremely concerned.

"Doc," Hunter's eye's lit up with a new idea, "If Dinaurians could hide out among humans, then we can do the same!"

"What do you mean?"

"What if there was a way to just walk by all the Dinaurians?"

"In order to do that, you'd have to look just…like…a Dinaurian…genius!" Dr. Diggins grabbed the pendant from Hunter, making the hood disguise disappear, "if I can reprogram the disguise function, then I can make one of us look exactly like a Dinaurian!...but wait? That would be just one of us."

"So? It only takes one vivosaur to kick tail."

"But we also need to get the idols, can a vivosaur handle alien technology?" Hunter laughed nervously.

"Touché Doc. So what do we do?"

"We'll need something that looks extremely similar to a Dinaurian."

"Like a dinosaur costume."

"Our anatomy's are extremely similar, so only the head part would need to change."

"So what you need is a mask." Mr. Richmond confirmed.

"Correct," Diggins nodded, "but the authenticity needs to be lifelike. It would have to look like you have a dinosaur head…"The three paused as they realized what they needed and who to get it from. Rosie let out a sad squeak.

"We have" Mr. Richmond started

"To get," added

"Saurhead's mask." Hunter finished, "…well, looks like my afternoon's been scheduled."

"You volunteer that easily?" Mr. Richmond seemed surprised.

"The fate of the human race could be on the line, it's not like I have a choice. Speaking of which, shouldn't you guys work on calling the mainland? It is their problem too."

"Already tried that, but they don't believe me. It's hard to convince people that aliens really exist."

"Right. I'll be off then. Oh, wait! Doc, one more thing."

"What is it?" Hunter took of his velociraptor claw necklace and handed it to the doctor.

"Can you take a look at this please?"

"Uh, sure. I don't know why this is important but I'll look at it."

"Thanks."

"Hunter, I cannot stress how important it is that you get this mask."

"Right, no pressure," Hunter ran out to the main building and eventually outside to the park area.

"Can we get pop tarts if we get the mask?" Spinax asked

"You act like we wouldn't get pop tarts either way."

"You have an evil plan don't you."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yep, and I am so proud of you for coming up with a diabolical scheme."

"Don't say it."

"You."

"Don't you dare say it."

"Are acting."

"For the love of all that is holy in this world, shut up!"

"Like me."

"Dang it!" Hunter sat down on a bench by the ocean to clear his head for a moment. When you got shocked by raptin's pendant, the pain was the worst when it was near his chest. The same spot as where his pendant was.

"Your conflicted, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Hunter turned, there was an old man on the other side of the bench. He had a long white beard and was wearing a black cloak with a white shirt and brown pants underneath. His eyes were concealed by dark sunglasses despite it being sunny.

"I suppose I can relate to that." The man chuckled.

"I doubt you could relate to me." Hunter raised an eyebrow. Who the heck is this guy?

"Sounds like this guy has had a few to many at the local café." Spinax said, "if ya know what I mean." The old man laughed again despite nothing being said.

"Can I help you?" Hunter asked, trying to be polite.

"No, I simply wanted to meet you at least once before I leave this place. I've heard quite a bit about you Hunter." Hunter wasn't too surprised that the old man knew his name. He gained a bit of popularity for being one of the few master fighters on the island. The way he said his name was a bit unsettling though.

"It's a small island," Hunter replied, "if you want to talk there'll be other times."

"Respectful of the elderly, aren't you?"

"I've learned that it pays to be nice to people." Hunter thought back to when being nice earned him a kiss.

"I don't mean leaving this area, I mean leaving the island."

"Oh, why are you leaving?"

"There is someplace I must be in preparation for the grim future." Grim future?

"Don't fret." The man assured hunter when he saw the worry lines on his face, "this future is distant, but I suppose you have your own share of problems to deal with." Now it was Hunter's turn to laugh.

"Am I that easy to read?"

"Like a book." Spinax commented, "a short book with a lot of pictures and only one word on each page." The old man shrugged.

"When one loses sight, they become able to see much more." Hunter now knew why the old man wore glasses. He was blind.

"You're an interesting person, that's for Sure…uh…"

"Alvis is my name."

"Cool. I'm Hunter, but you already knew that." Alvis rested his chin on his hand.

"What's a blind?" Spinax asked. Hunter smacked himself. Alvis laughed again. Hunter raised an eyebrow again. No way that's a coincidence twice in a row.

"Curious," Alvis said suddenly.

"What's curious?" Hunter asked.

"It's curious that you would speak to me when I could possibly be a Dinaurian in a human disguise."

"…what?" Hunter stood up immediately. Spinax growled. Alvis slowly stood up and walked toward the dock.

"Goodbye, Hunter Cloud. If you wish to speak again, you can find me at the Caliosteo islands." Alvis left without a word.

"You should've let me bite him." Spinax grumbled. Hunter didn't answer. He was shocked that Alvis new his last name, something the Dinaurians shouldn't know.

It was easy to find Saurhead, he was in the fossil stadium being swarmed by fans. Hunter couldn't get through the massive swarm of people.

"Now what?" He asked himself.

"Leave no survivors." Spinax growled.

"And this is why we don't use your plans," Hunter took a deep breath and shouted, "HEY LIZARD FACE!"

"WHAAAT?!"

"LET'S FIGHT AGAIN!"

"SOUNDS GOOD! RRROOOAAARRR!" Eventually the crowd dispersed and turned to face Hunter. Saurhead folded his arms, Hunter could tell he was smiling under the mask.

"The old coot already told me what you're here for," Saurhead said quietly…well, quietly for Saurhead, "and I don't believe this alien crap for a second, but if you want my mask, you'll have to earn it." The crowd gasped collectively.

"This kid wants Saurhead's mask?"

"That's crazy,"

"He's dead meat"

"What does Saurhead even look like without the mask?"

"Wonder what I'm gonna have for dinner…" that last one was spinax.

"So, what do I have to do for the mask?" Hunter said, ignoring the crowd. Saurhead chuckled.

"Don't mess with me punk, I can already tell you have an idea as to what you have to do."

"Well, in that case." Hunter's eyes burned with a fiery intensity, "one on one. Your best vivosaur against my best vivosaur. We'll find out who's the best." Saurhead's mask looked like it was grinning.

"Your speakin' my language kid. Meet me in the stadium in five minutes." Hunter cracked his knuckles as Saurhead walked off. The crowd had shocked looks at both fighters, then stampeded towards the entrance to the stands in the stadium. Hunter entered the All too familiar hall and slowly walked forward, contemplating how he could fight. Saurhead has more experience and most likely a more powerful vivosaur. Not to mention that his vivosaur will have a plethora of invented moves that it could use. The ground shook with the crowds roars when Hunter entered the stadium. Saurhead was standing on the far end of the stadium, Holding a red dino medal.

"Crap."

"T-REX! TEACH HIM PAIN!" He fiery king of the Dinosaurs roared onto the battlefield. Saurhead folded his arms.

"Go ahead kid, call out your water type. See what good it'll do!" Hunter smiled.

"SPINAX! SHOW THEM WHY WE FIGHT!" A tornado shot up from the ground and dispersed to reveal Hunter's first vivosaur.

"Ha!" Spinax roared, "you were expecting Delta, But it was me, Spinax!"

"I did say I would use my best vivosaur!" Hunter yelled back to Saurhead, "did you think I wouldn't take this seriously?" The rank 12 T-Rex and the rank 10 Spinax eyes each other for a single moment.

"Begin!"

"Cyclone!"

"Flamethrower!" Saurhead started with an invented move right off the bat. A powerful column of fire shot out of T-Rex's mouth to combat spinax's tornado. The two forces of nature struggled for a moment before dispersing, leaving small flames scattered around the arena.

"Supernova!" Cloaked in flame, T-Rex rocketed forward. Fortunately, Hunter had already seen this attack.

"Jump!" Spinax launched himself into the air right before T-Rex made contact.

"Cyclone!" Spinax battered the tyrannosaurus with a tornado from above, further propelling himself into the sky.

"Tyrant's Roar!" T-Rex roared so loud that it made Hunter's ears bleed. Spinax fell to the ground, disoriented and injured from the fall.

"Firecell!" T-Rex Fire a weak jet of flame that was purple in color. The flames licked at spinax's feet as he ran away, but small red flames remained on spinax's body, slowly damaging him.

"Spinax combo!" Spinax bit into t-Rex's tail before shoulder checking the tyrannosaurus into the wall.

"Scare tactics!" T-Rex retaliated with his own bite and shoulder check. It tried to follow up with a stream of flame, but spinax whipped up the wind around himself to blow away the fire.

"Grab onto T-Rex!" Spinax latched himself onto T-Rex with his jaws and refused to let go.

"Now hit 'em with a point blank Cyclone!" T-Rex roared with pain as it was engulfed by the tornado. For a while, Hunter could se neither his nor the opponents vivosaur.

"Blazing Whip!" The wind dispersed to reveal T-Rex smacking spinax with a flaming tail, knocking him back into the wall.

It's no use," Hunter muttered to himself, "every time I think I'm getting the upper hand, he uses another new move. It's impossible to predict."

"Then don't predict!" Spinax grunted, "just attack!"

"Harden! Then spinax fang!" Spinax increased his defense, then rushed forward and let sparks fly as he brought his fangs down on T-Rex.

"Hellfire!" Spires Of flame erupted out of the ground, battering spinax left and right.

"Cyclone on the ground!" Spinax shot upwards once more to avoid the pillars of fire. Spinax landed on top of T-Rex and the two wrestled violently. Hunter's eyes darted around the stadium as the two tyrants knocked each other across the floor.

"Use Cyclone to shoot forward!" Spinax angled his head and fired a tornado that made him rocket forward into T-Rex.

"Now, Full Power Cyclonic Breath!" Summoning all his strength, Spinax fired a massive green laser at point blank range. T-Rex fell to the ground, covered in burn marks from the laser.

"I think we did it," Hunter gasped. It was finally over…or was it?

"Frightful assault!"

"…How?" T-Rex launched itself back onto its feet and struck spinax over and over while cloaked in flame.

"If that's your best, then consider me disappointed punk!" Saurhead laughed, "you'll have to do better than that if you want to win! Tyrant's breath!" T-Rex fires a red laser that lit the ground on fire as it traveled. Spinax roared in pain as the laser exploded on impact.

"Spinax!" Hunter yelled. Smoke blocked his vision, "what do I do now? Even everything we had wasn't enough…I'm just not strong enough." The realization hit Hunter like a pile of bricks. He wanted to be strong, but he was still leagues away from Saurhead. He wasn't strong.

"For revival machine's sake, get over it!"

"Spinax?! You're still conscious?"

"More or less, what the hell are you doing?"

"Accepting that I'm not strong enough."

"Last time you questioned if you were strong, I got thrown into a pond for back talking, and now, after all the shit we went through, you're giving up now?! I'm ruining our PG rating over how angry I am, damn it!"

"Even at our best, he still shrugs it off like it's nothing."

"Then let's be better."

"I'm not strong enough."

"Then be stronger. When you fall off that Horse, you get back up and you eat that horse."

"I don't think that's how the saying goes."

"You know what I mean, now let's kick some ass!"

"…stronger, huh." Hunter closed his eyes. He wants to be strong so he can protect the people he cares about. He wasn't strong enough to protect his parents, so Hunter decided long ago that He won't let that happen to anyone ever again. Now, the entire human race needs him to protect them by stopping the Dinaurians. If Hunter can't even get to the spaceship…No, this isn't how the story ends.

"Hello? Earth to nimrod, I believe there is an ass that needs to be kicked."

"HELL YEAH! CYCLONIC BREATH NOW! RAPID FIRE!" Spinax emerged from the smoke repeatedly firing off lasers at T-Rex. Already past his limit, spinax didn't hold anything back. Each blast knocked T-Rex back. They weren't just random shots either. Spinax was using targeted laser attacks at over 100% of his power.

"What's this?" Saurhead scoffed, "your second wind? MORE PAIN WILL FIX THAT!"

"USE CYCLONIC BREATH ON YOURSELF!" Spinax enveloped himself in green light. If vivosaurs can be powered up by surrounding themselves in an element, like T-Rex's supernova, then team skills must be the same.

"So you can take us on at 100% huh?" Hunter challenged, "THEN WE'LL JUST GO BEYOND THAT!" Spinax and T-Rex exchanges blows. With the power up from absorbing cyclonic breath, T-Rex was getting slowly battered towards the wall. The crowd ran from the stands in that area as the two vivosaurs slammed each other into the metal wall.

"Flame spire!" A Column of Flame erupted under spinax, but he did not move from his spot while he slammed his head into T-Rex. Hunter thought of an idea. If cyclonic breath causes a surge of power…he quickly explained his plan to spinax. T-Rex grabbed Spinax by the neck in its jaws and prepared a Flamethrower. The green light surrounding spinax was slowly flickering out.

"This has been one hell of a ride kid," Saurhead admitted, "I'm almost sad to see it end." Hunter smirked.

"What makes you think this is over?"

"CYCLONIC RAGE!" Using the last of his power, spinax created a massive explosion that engulfed the two vivosaurs. Green fire engulfed part of the stadium and fire fighters on standby (in case something like this happened) rushed to the scene. While everyone was panicking, Hunter and Saurhead slowly walked together towards the smoke cloud covering their vivosaurs. They looked at each other and nodded. There was no difference between the two. They respected each other as equals, no matter the outcome. When the smoke cloud cleared, there was one vivosaur still there, passed out and breathing raggedly. The other was a medal on the ground.

The surviving vivosaur was not spinax.

As Saurhead returned T-Rex to its medal, Hunter shakily picked up Spinax's medal. He had lost.

"I'm…sorry," spinax coughed weakly, "I couldn't….win." Hunter didn't say anything. He couldn't protect them. He wasn't strong enough to protect the Humans. His mother's screams echoed in his head before he heard a sickening snap and fell to his knees.

"Hey," Hunter looked up. Saurhead was holding an outstretched hand in front of him, "that was the greatest fight I've had in years kid." Hunter took the hand and was lifted to his feet. The crowd was dead silent.

"The only reason you lost was because Firecell racked up too much additional damage." Saurhead explained.

"A loss is still a loss." Hunter was fighting back tears. Little did all these people know that he had failed to keep them safe.

"You showed me a fight where I could go all out and still have to keep fighting. For that, you deserve my mask."

"What?" Hunter eye's widened, Maybe he didn't fail, "but I didn't win!"

"I DON'T CARE! RRROOOAAARRR!" Saurhead ripped off his own mask to reveal…another mask. He handed the old mask to a shocked Hunter.

"Yeah, I've got about thirty of these things on."

"I could really use that pop tart right about now," spinax said before making a noise that sounded remarkably like throwing up.

"You and me both," Hunter agreed

"One question though,"

"What?"

"Why didn't you just kill sore head and steal the mask, Sora the master Assassin."

"Shut up spinax."

Done! I did it, I made my glorious comeback from the holidays in style by including every running gag in the series and making tons of references.

Hunter: you're trying way too hard to get people to like you.

What? That's crazy talk! Hahahahahahahahahaha…..*cries*

Hunter:…spinax, why do we stick around this guy?

Spinax: he has pop tarts

Question of the day: what song was I listening to while writing the battle between Hunter and Saurhead? (It has something to do with one of the references) Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you feel like it!


	32. Chapter 31

Journey of the soul chapter 31

Hunter: Hey Cross, I've got a question.

Woah woah woah! You can't start the chapter! That's my thing! STICK TO THE SCRIPT!

Hunter: We have a script?

…just ask your stupid question already

Hunter: why is my last name Cloud

Well you see Hunter, when parents don't love their kids and they get adopted inste-

Hunter: You know that's not what I meant.

Fair enough. Your last name is Cloud because I like Final Fantasy 7 (I don't own that game either, just like I don't own fossil fighters…the companies, not the games themselves. The games are sitting on my shelf)

Hunter: That is the most shallow reason I have ever heard. Who names someone after a video game character?

Aww, come on Hunter. Don't let your name cause you "strife"

Hunter:…I hate you so much right now.

It would do you well to transfer some of that hatred to-

Hunter: STOP MAKING VIDEO GAME REFERENCES!

Dr. Diggins was in the warehouse of the fossil center, working. Next to him was a giant red machine with stairs leading up to a platform on it. Next to the control console for the machine was a small desk with Hunter's necklace and raptin's "new and improved" pendant on it.

"Let's try it now," muttered. He pressed the big red button on the panel and orange rings of light, not unlike the ones the Dinaurians used to teleport, began to shoot up from the base of the platform.

"Haha!" laughed, He did it!

"Great job doc! Now HELP ME!" Dr. Diggins was so occupied with building the new machine that he didn't realize that Hunter had entered the room and was now sliding across the floor.

"When did you get in here?"

"I don't know, but I got the mask!" Hunter held up a misshapen green blob. Diggins grabbed Hunter and pulled him upright.

"Mr. Richmond told me you would be here," Hunter explained, "so, what's with the big machine over there?"

"Well, I ended up doing a bit of reverse engineering and built an entirely knew teleporter. It's a bit bigger now, but…"

"It'll get the job done," Hunter finished for him.

"Exactly, but before we go, we need to be properly equipped." Dr. Diggins led Hunter to the desk with Both pendants. Hunter's eyes widened when he saw that the velociraptor claw on the end of his necklace had been opened.

"While I was examining the claw, I noticed that it had been hollowed out," Dr. Diggins explained. Hollow? How could it be hollow? The only one's who've had the necklace are him and…hood. Crap, "I found two things inside." He held up a small metal block and something tiny and gold.

"What's this?" Hunter took the block and held it up.

"I'm not sure, it seems to be a battery of some sort. But look here." He pointed at a blackened part of the block, "those burns aren't from a fire, it's almost as if this thing was recently surged with around 58 volts of electricity." Hunter immediately threw the block onto the ground and crushed it underneath his foot. Now he knew how raptin's pendant and that other thing he had could shock him. Dr. Diggins raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask questions.

"And this?" Hunter held up the little golden rock. It was warm to the touch and gave him an odd sense of security.

"That….is a part of a miraculous fossil rock."

"….come again?"

"A miraculous fossil rock can make a vivosaur evolve to another vivosaur entirely through super reviv-"

"I know what it does! But how did it get there?" Dr. Diggins shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But something amiss is definitely happening. That fossil has already been revived, it may have some strange effects on vivosaurs capable of evolution."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," Hunter was now very glad that spinax had fallen asleep since the battle with Saurhead. He didn't need a vivosaur whooping about how special they are right now. At least now he knew what that strange ghost crystal dragon is.

"Anyway, check this out!" Dr. Diggins excitedly tossed raptin's pendant to Hunter. Instead of a light green, the pendant was now a dark blue.

"After learning how the pendant worked, it was easy to make a few adjustments." Hunter pressed the hologram disguise button and looked down at himself. His skin was now the same light blue color as all Dinaurians. He was "wearing" the same tight clothes that most Dinaurians have as well. He turned around and nearly yelled in surprise when he saw a tail coming out from the base of his back.

"This is awesome!" Hunter swished his new tail around a bit before looking at himself in a mirror Diggins gave him. His face remained largely unchanged aside from the skin tone. His ears now ended in points and two sharp fangs replaced his canines. His hair became a light blue color and there was even a cool scar on the sides of his eye. He was the spitting image of a Dinaurian.

"Remember, we'll have to make up some excuse for me." Dr. Diggins was now wearing the green dinosaur mask and Hunter fought back the urge to laugh.

"All right let's go," Hunter nodded. The two walked up to the platform. Hunter looked at the control console and wondered how they were gonna press the button from the platform. As they reached the top, Dr. Diggins pulled out a rock And pelted it at the button, hitting it with deadly accuracy. Hunter's jaw dropped and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull as the two disappeared.

"You know Doc. If the scientist thing is getting stale, you could pitch on a pro baseball team." A rock. A rock is what got them one step closer to saving humans. The two appeared at the same teleporter in the Dinaurian's ship as they did before.

"I don't know how long these disguise will last," Dr. Diggins muttered, "so let's hurry."

"Right." They walked towards the metal door by the side of the room. Before they could lay a finger on it, nether door opened automatically and another Dinaurian walked out.

"Hey guys! Finally fixed your holographic projectors I see."

"Uh, Yeah," Hunter said nervously. Even if he looked like a Dinaurian, it was bizarre to have a conversation with an alien race bent on human destruction.

"Wait…" The Dinaurian eyed Dr. Diggins, "you look…strange." Hunter swore he saw sweat drops forming on the mask.

"Actually, I caught a human disease," Dr. Diggins spoke in a voice that sounded like a dying elephant, "it's called…uh,"

"Cooties!" Hunter chimed in, "You get it by touching a human female, it's extremely contagious." The Dinaurian immediately pinched his nose and covered his mouth.

"Ugh. Just go to the sick bay already, I do NOT want to look like that." He walked away gagging before going to the teleporter and disappearing.

"Cooties?" Dr. Diggins folded his arms, "really Hunter?"

"Did you forget I'm still a kid?" Hunter retorted, "c'mon let's go!" The two walked through hallways and large rooms. Dinaurians greeted them kindly, which only made Hunter feel more uneasy. Dr. Diggins got a few weird looks, but other than that they went unnoticed.

"Zzzzzzzghuh….oh, good morning reptile person that looks a lot like Hunter." At once, all Dinaurians in the room they were in perked their heads up.

"Spinax be quiet,"

"Wait a minute…I'm being kidnapped! YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE SCUMBAGS!"

"Hey, do you guys feel that?" One Dinaurian said.

"Yeah, what is that?"

"Spinax, please be quiet," Hunter had forgotten that the Dinaurians knew when spinax was talking because of…huh, how do they know?

"No! You get to tell me what to do, Dinaurian kidnapper that looks a lot like Hunter and can somehow hear me! I will never stop fighting!"

"Earlier today I made a cootie joke."

"Hunter! How ya doin' buddy?"

"I'd be doing a lot better if you'd shut up."

"Roger that." After a little bit of silence, all the Dinaurians went back to what they were doing and The two were able to move on to the next room. Hunter thought about something. If the Dinaurians can hear Hunter and spinax's conversation, does that mean that the two are related somehow? Him being part Dinaurian and spinax being able to talk.

"Look over there!" Diggins whisper shouted. Hunter diverted his attention to a large computer in front of a glass case. Inside the glass was a life sized stone carving of a Dinaurian.

"Hang on." Dr. Diggins started fiddling with the computer while Hunter tried to look important so any passing Dinaurians will think they are supposed to be there.

"Interesting." Diggins muttered

"You can read that?" Hunter looked at the strange symbols that were scrolling down the screen, "how can you read that?"

"I've seen this language before."

"Where?"

"At the secre-oh look at this!" Hunter had a feeling that was dodging the question, "these statues are real Dinaurians!"

"Now isn't the time for jokes Doc."

"I'm not kidding! Listen to this: by placing Dinaurians in stone sleep, we can preserve our bodies for millions of years while we await the success of project mother planet." Project mother planet. Hunter had heard that before. Where has he heard that before? Spinax began banging his head against the walls of Hunter's mind. He knew where they heard it, but couldn't say anything.

"Doc, What's project mother planet?"

"I'm working on that…okay! Here we go: We Dinaurians have traveled the stars for many years since the destruction of our own planet. We have scoured the galaxy for a new planet suitable for life. Eventually, we found a new planet and began what was known as project mother planet." The doctor and Hunter silently read from there on. The Dinaurians had planted "intelligent seeds" of life on the planet. They were supposed to eventually evolve into new Dinaurians to inhabit the planet. After planting the seeds of life, the Dinaurians went into stone sleep for countless years. When they awoke, they found that the seeds of life had strayed from the intended evolution and became…..humans.

"No, that can't be right" Dr. Diggins frantically searched for something that would tell him otherwise. Hunter put a hand on the doctor's back and gave him an empathetic look.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's a failed experiment." He said to himself.

"Hang on" Diggins opened two different files.

"Idolcomps: in order to right this wrong, we created four sub idolcomps and one main idolcomp. When all four are put together and activated, they will fire regression rays at the planet locally referred to as earth. This will revert humans back to a bacterial state. Unfortunately, the sub idolcomps were stolen by the traitor Xeno and taken to earth." Xeno. Despite it being a completely new name to him, Hunter couldn't help but feel like he had heard it before.

"At least some Dinaurians think that wiping out an entire race is wrong." Dr. Diggins nodded. He moved to the other file.

"Specimens," The Doctor said aloud. Hunter gulped down a lump in his throat. "In order to retrieve the idolcomps, we created hybrids that are referred to as the specimens. Created with Dinaurian and Human genes, these soulless creatures have the only purpose of finding and returning the idolcomps. Unfortunately, only specimens K,X, and Z were successful." Hunter's eyes widened with shock. There are more people like him?

"Doc, we need to keep moving," He said, they were attracting unwanted attention.

"I know, this is all just hard to process. I com only imagine the monsters that these specimens are," Diggins held a hand to his head while they walked away, "at any rate, we need to stop the Dinaurians from reviving project mother planet. Even if they are just looking for a home,"

"Yeah." Hunter didn't know why, but he felt bad for the Dinaurians. At the end of the day, they just wanted a home.

"I guess we're not that different after all." He muttered.

"Blah blah blah, skip to the part where we bash some heads."

"You shouldn't be talking right now spinax."

"No one's around. Besides, I don't want to miss the Important part."

"How is walking down a hallway the important part? Seems pretty boring."

"That glowing purple doorway begs to differ." Hunter looked to the left and saw what spinax was talking about. Next to the doorway was a sign that said something in the Dinaurian language.

"Do not enter." Dr. Diggins read aloud.

"Sounds Like we shouldn't go in there, let's go in there."

"It's not a crime if the god guys do it." Spinax chimed in.

"Okay," Dr. Diggins reluctantly walked through the doorway with Hunter, "just be ready for-" what he should be ready for, Hunter never found out. He had covered Dr. Diggins mouth to stop him. There were two Dinaurians in the very back of the large room. Four pedestals were surrounding a large statue in the back. On each of the pedestals was an idol. Hunter and Dr. Diggins quickly moved behind the pedestal with the green idol.

"Wait, Dinaurians wear clothes!?" Spinax yelled. Hunter was about to throw spinax at a wall, but fortunately neither of the Dinaurians. Spinax was right though, the taller Dinaurian had much more pronounced clothing than the others. He had a royal blue robe that reached to the floor. His was periwinkle in color and he had strange markings on his face. His white hair partly covered two small horns. However, the most offsetting thing about this Dinaurian was two massive green wing like thing that went from his head to his back. The other Dinaurian was Duna.

Hunter drew in a sharp breath. The statue in the back had to be the main idolcomp. It was similarly shaped to the other idols except much larger. There was also a small button by its feet. Duna noticed the two shuffling around and looked in their direction. Hunter rushed behind the pedestal with Dr. Diggins and didn't move again until they heard someone speak.

"At last, the day has finally come," the tall Dinaurian spoke, "with this, we shall finally have a home again."

"I am grateful to witness the rebirth of our species, King Dynal." Duna said softly. Hunter's muscles clenched. The King of all Dinaurians was ten feet away.

"It is I who should be grateful Duna, you have been detrimental to this project and its successful execution." Hunter risked a look. The two Dinaurians were standing close to the button.

"Doc!" He whisper shouted, "get that idol off the pedestal!" Dr. Diggins was slowly shuffling up the pedestal towards the green idol. Meanwhile, Hunter tried to devise a plan to buy time. Spinax was slamming his head into something.

"As a reward for your invaluable service, "Dynal continued, "you may activate the main idolcomp and cause the revival of our species." He gestured towards the button at the main idolcomp's feet. Duna slowly walked towards it. Hunter prepared himself to jump out and stop her.

"Leave no survivors." Spinax growled. Duna's ears perked up and Hunter swore under his breath. Instead of trying to find them though, Duna turned to face Dynal.

"I will not do this," She said slowly, "I cannot bring myself to just flip the switch and eradicate so many innocent lives." Hunter could see tears forming.

"Innocent!? Do not kid yourself Duna. Humans are a selfish race. They are nothing more than a failed experiment."

"You have not seen the humans I have met. They are kind, compassionate, and work together in a crisis. I have seen it all."

"Clearly you have spent too much time around Humans. You are mistaken.

"It is you who is mistaken. Humans may have problems, but so do we Dinaurians! We are more alike than you think."

"You dare betray your own people!?" Dynal raised a fist, "then you are no better than a filthy human!"

"Back off!" Hunter threw himself between the two and took a fist to the head. He gritted his teeth as the pain rattled his brain.

"What?!" Dynal took a step backwards, "who are you? What are you doing here?" Hunter didn't answer and instead rubbed the bruise forming on his head.

"Ow. Man, you hit like a truck." Duna turned to look at Hunter, she studied his face for a moment.

"No matter," Dynal gestured at Duna, "take this traitor to the prison cells."

"You guys have prison cells too? What kind of messed up place is this?"

"Who are you?" Duna asked, "you seem…different."

"I'd expect you to be a bit more afraid," Hunter said calmly, "I'm supposed to be lockin' you up after all." He smiled and turned towards Dynal.

"Ah, I See now," Dynal pointed accusingly, "you may remove your disguise now. It has no further effect."

"Dang, I was just starting to have fun." Hunter clicked the button on Raptin's Pendant and watched his disguise fizzle out. Both Dinaurians gasped.

"Hunter?!" Duna took a step back.

"You!" Dynal's hand went to a small device at his side. He began to speak into it, "Guards, Specimen X is in the Idolcomp room! Send the Dinomatons!"

"Specimen X?!" Dr. Diggins said aloud, "Hunter, What's going on?"

"And stop that man from reaching the idolcomp!" Three Dinomatons piled into the room.

"Crap, there's no more room for other vivosaurs!"

"Then we'll make room!" Spinax yelled back.

"Fair enough!" Hunter pitched spinax's dino medal at the Dinomatons and tackled King Dynal, who was trying to reach the button. Spinax tore the head off of one Dinomaton and crushed another under his foot. Hunter struggled with holding back Dynal and avoiding the metallic claws rushing at him. More Dinomatons arrived and began to overwhelm spinax.

"Dodge left!" Hunter yelled in his mind to spinax. However, he ended up yelling, "left!"

"How can you do that?!" Dynal grabbed Hunter by the wrist and pinned him down, nearly breaking his arm, "I will not allow a filthy half breed to destroy my species!"

"You don't get to decide!" Hunter tore away from Dynal. A Dinomaton slashed downward, cutting Hunter's side with deadly talons. Spinax roared with rage as Hunter fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The altispinax tore through multiple Dinomatons to try and reach Hunter, but to no avail.

"We have all the idolcomps, you are of no use to us anymore." Dynal stared over Hunter as the Dinomaton pinned him to the floor, "goodbye specimen X, you can die happy knowing you saved my people."

"You jackass," Hunter coughed, "You know I don't have a soul, how could I have emotions?"

"I suppose that is true." The Dinomaton lifted its other claw to impale Hunter.

"STAY AWAY!" Duna, in her dinosaur form, triple kicked the Dinomaton into the wall. Hunter tried to push himself up, but stumbled and fell to the ground. Spinax crushed the last of the Dinomatons and returned to a medal.

"Enough of this!" Dynal yelled.

"Yeah, enough!" Dr, Diggins was standing on the floor next to the green idol, "you won't be destroying the human race anytime soon!"

"You…need to work on your comebacks doc," Hunter stuttered, "that was kinda lame."

"Wow, thanks. I should definitely take advice from the boy that isn't human."

"Crap, got found out that quickly huh?"

"I'm a scientist, not an idiot."

"You blasted fool!" Dynal roared, "what have you done?"

"Saved the world?" Spinax replied, "hip hop hooray? Drinks on me?"

"You forcefully removed the idol! That power surge could be cataclysmic!" The room began to shake.

"Doc!" Hunter charged as a light beam surrounded the Doctor. In a flash of light, Dr. Diggins and the idol disappeared.

"Late Cretaceous," Dynal muttered.

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO." Hunter's eyes blazed at the Dinaurian King with a fiery intensity.

"He put that upon himself," Dynal scoffed.

"YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!" Hunter charged, but his injury caused him to double over in pain.

"Hunter!" Duna rushed over to Hunter and wrapped her necklace around both of them. In an instant, the two were gone.

Done! No comment from Hunter, he's busy traveling through space with his girlfriend.

Spinax: sooooooo…we didn't save the world? And drinks are still on me?

Pretty much. Thanks for reading!


	33. Chapter 32

Journey of the soul chapter 32

IT'S HERE!

Hunter: what's here?

IT!

Hunter: what is it?

IT'S IT!

Hunter:….huh?

January 29th 2019, people will remember this day for years to come. It was the day that world peace was achieved.

Hunter: you got a new video game didn't you.

YES I DID!

Hunter: Hey! Where are you going!?

To the PlayStation!

Hunter: we still have to do the chapter!

Oh yeah. I don't own fossil fighters!...can I go now?

Hunter: eh, fine.

Aww. You aren't heartless after all.

Hunter: thanks bud-….that was a reference wasn't it.

Enjoy the chapter!

A blinding flash of color and sounds filled Hunter's brain. A mix of colors filled his vision, but he couldn't tell what colors they were. The noise was deafening, yet it was not a loud noise. It was like radio static entered his brain through his ears and filled his head with the metallic sound. He felt nothing. He is nothing. Nothing is real.

Still, something was calling him. Through the onslaught of colors, Hunter could see ink black darkness in the corner of his mind. Through the screeching and buzzing of noise, Hunter heard his name being whispered. Eventually, the darkness covered his eyesight and the whispering became shouting.

"Get up ya lazy bum! There's work to do!" One voice yelled.

"Hunter! Hunter! Please open your eyes!" Hunter liked the second voice better. It wasn't as obnoxiously loud as the first one.

"Hey! I can hear ya!" Oh wait, that's spinax. Something tickled his nose and Hunter forced his eyes to open. He saw the faint outline of someone standing over them. Hunter sneezed when their hair went up his nose. That was a mistake. His body went rigid with pain and he passed out again. The second fit of being unconscious was much more horrible than the first, but that was mainly because spinax kept him company.

"Okay," The vivosaur lamented, "If a person dies but comes back to life over and over, does that make them immortal or a zombie?"

"I don't know, both?"

"Okay, one more question,"

"What"

"What would happen if Pinocchio said his nose will grow."

"It would…..oh my god."

"Exactly, now get up!" Groaning, Hunter slowly opened his eyes. He was laying down on the couch in Mr. Richmond's office. His injuries had been bandaged up and his visor was at the base of his feet. He stood up and caught a quick glance of Duna speaking with Mr. Richmond until his hair fell over his face.

"I could use a haircut," he said to himself.

"Good to see you up and running Hunter," Mr. Richmond got up and handed Hunter's visor to him. He pulled his hair up and fitted the crown on his head.

"So, what'd I miss?"

"Not much, I was just discussing what happened with this young lady," he gestured at Duna, who looked down steadily, "I'm sorry about the Doctor. He was a good friend." Hunter closed his eyes, trying not to cry. How could he save everyone if he couldn't save the person right in front of him?

"There is still hope," Duna interrupted. The two turned to look at her.

"Duna, you're bleeding!" Hunter got up, ignoring the pain spiking his side, and inspected the blood splatters on Duna's side.

"Worry not Hunter," She assured him, "I am fine,"

"How? That's a lot of blood. What hap-…oh." Hunter had a strange realization. That was his blood. Hunter laughed nervously, "uh…thanks for saving my life back there."

"Think nothing of it. I was happy to help." Hunter looked at Duna in a new light. She had thrown everything away. Her home, way of life, and her own people. She had become a traitor to her kind just to help the humans.

"Well look at that," Spinax puffed up with pride, "Good goin' turtle dove!"

"What are you talk-" Hunter realized that his and Duna's faces were about an inch away and they were both blushing. He backed away quickly.

"Back to the topic at hand," Mr. Richmond said quickly, "what Hope should we still have?"

"What?...oh yes of course," Duna snapped back to reality, "while the idol was sent transported to the distant past with Dr. Diggins, we can still pinpoint the idol's location and find it. Then we can destroy the idol."

"Alright, how do we do that?" Mr. Richmond asked.

"Do you have an interface I could use?"

"Interface?"

"I think she means computer," Hunter answered, "there's one in the not really secret lab." Duna nodded and started to walk towards the door. Hunter and Mr. Richmond followed her down to the not-so secret lab. Duna immediately began to type furiously on the computer, creating lines and lines of code.

"The Doctor was transported 67million years into the past by the excess energy of removing the idol. However, his location in relation to earth shouldn't have changed."

"Huh," Hunter clicked his tongue, noting how Duna no longer said Idolcomp, "so in other words, he'd be in the same place on earth he was when he got transported back. Wouldn't that put him in space?"

"Not quite, the depth was not perceived. He should have been transported to the same place at ground level. Which would put the idol," Duna pressed enter on the keyboard. A map of Vivosaur island showed up with a blinking dot near the center of it, "right there."

"That's Greenhorn plains!" Mr. Richmond pointed out.

"And Knotwood Forest," Hunter pointed at another blinking dot, "and river ravine and bottomsup bay and mount lavaflow.

"Interesting," Duna thought for a moment, "the idol must have been broken over millions of years."

"I'll go get them." Hunter announced.

"Did you just VOLUNTEER to go on a tedious FETCH QUEST?" Spinax roared.

"Are you sure Hunter?" Worry lines crossed mr. Richmond's face, "you're still injured."

"The idol prices will probably be underground. Digging up stuff is kinda my thing." He turned towards the door.

"Wait," Duna put a hand on Hunter's shoulder. He turned to face her.

"Please be careful."

"Of course." Hunter replied.

"No promises," Spinax replied

"I'll be back before you know it."

"Don't bet on it."

"Shut up spinax."

"Shutting up now." And so, Hunter visited dig site after dig site on a quest that the author thought was too boring and decided to leave it out. Instead, let's give a quick summary of each.

Greenhorn plains: Some guy with a green sock hat and an old shotgun was trying to sell the idol piece for one million G. Hunter stole it and left two bottle caps in the cash register.

Knotwood Forest: The Digadigs were worshipping the idol piece as the tooth of the fossil god. After an hour of hip-shaking, they agreed to give it to Hunter.

River Ravine: Hunter tripped and nearly fell into the canyon. Turns out the outcropping he was hanging on to was the idol piece. Don't ask me how he got back up.

Bottomsup Bay: Wedged in the mouth of a denture shark. It took six pencils, nine cotton swabs, three toothbrushes, one plunger, and a crowbar, but they managed to get it loose. Spinax was more interested in why Hunter had all that stuff in his backpack.

Mt. Lavaflow: The idol piece was nowhere to be found. Hunter spent 3 hours digging and still couldn't find it. Spinax was busy destroying large rocks for…reasons. Spinax was crushing a boulder with his teeth when Hunter noticed the green line in part of the rock. Spinax was so surprised when Hunter yelled that he started choking on the rock. Hunter had to reach his hand into Spinax's mouth and pull the idol piece out of his gullet.

Meanwhile, Duna and Mr. Richmond spent most of they're time in the secret lab.

"I must say, this is all very difficult to process," Mr. Richmond rested a hand on his forehead, "to think that our existence was caused by nothing more that a failed experiment."

"I apologize for the trouble I have caused," Duna bowed in apology, "but we must now focus on stopping Dynal from finding the lost idol pieces. Once we destroy it, we will have to board the Dinaurian ship and steal the technology that allowed Dynal to make the idols." Mr. Richmond's eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"Duna, I would like to know, what compels you to go to such drastic lengths to help us? I can't imagine that abandoning your own kind was easy for you." Duna but her lip. In truth, being a traitor to her own kind broke her heart, but she knew that it was wrong to eradicate an entire species now. Once she met Hunter and he saved her life, she developed a different perspective. This boy, who wasn't even a full human, still saved her life after she attempted to end his. A soulless "monster", as Dynal called specimen X, saved his enemy for no particular reason at all. She felt…safe when she was around Hunter now, and this made her empathize with the humans and want to help them. It was their fault the humans were created, they can't just wipe the Board clean and erase innocent lives.

"Dear lord!" Mr. Richmond was on the computer, which now showed the Richmond building security cameras. Hunter was on the screen, face down on the outside steps and breathing heavily. Mr. Richmond presses a button on the intercom next to him.

"Security, get that boy inside and make sure he's okay!"

(The next day)

Hunter was sprawled on a bed, sound asleep. Exhaustion and fatigue caused him to collapse before reaching the door. Hunter had missed the boat from Mt. lavaflow and had to walk through an old mining path to get back to civilization.

"Told ya we should've asked for directions," Spinax grumbled as Hunter drifted in and out of consciousness. He was aware that he was asleep, but he couldn't wake up. He was trapped in a purple smoke cloud. He tried to call out, but no sound came out of his mouth. He felt himself choking on the smog. What kind of dream is this? He tried looking around, but found that he couldn't move his limbs. That's when he heard a loud roar and the sound of bones breaking.

"GET UP!" The yell from spinax snapped Hunter back to reality. He was in Rosie's room. Rosie herself was jumping up and and down excitedly.

Rosie. The HUMAN Rosie.

"Squeak Squeak Squeak!" Hunter exploded in laughter that made his side hurt.

"Squeak squeak?" Rosie tilted her head, "Wait, squeak? Huh?" Her eyes lit up, "yay! I'm not a rat anymore!"

"At least not physically," Hunter muttered under his breath.

"Hey Hunter! You got all of the idol pieces right?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Just because I was a rat doesn't mean I don't get told things."

"Fair enough, I'm pretty sure I got them all."

"Than let's get to the secret lab ASAP!"

She grabbed his wrist.

"Crap."

"We're off to a great start today!" Spinax laughed as Hunter was dragged across the floor.

Done! Sorry if this chapter took a while to come out. I was busy playing video games. And if other chapters take a long time to release, that's cause I was playing video games.

Hunter: what video game is so important that you abandon me for a month?

If you've been paying attention, then you should know what it is. Besides, you weren't alone. You had spinax.

Hunter:I wish I could've been alone. All spinax wanted to do was watch some weird game on TV while eating chips.

How horrible. You must be scarred for life. Thanks for reading!


	34. Chapter 33

Journey of the soul chapter 33

You'd think after 32 chapters of stupidity and insanity, I'd find a better use for the intro than just screaming.

Hunter: you're not screaming right now.

That's because I'm on drugs

Hunter: whoa whoa whoa! You can't say that! Kids will get ideas!

Allergy pills Hunter, not the kinda drugs you're thinking of.

Hunter: oh, sorry.

Don't do drugs kids (except for pills prescribed by a doctor and only in the prescribed amount at the prescribed time.)

Hunter: wait, so you're completely out of it right now?

I was never in it. I don't own fossil fighters either.

Hunter: then you won't mind if I get on your PlayStation then.

I'LL MURDER YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!

Hunter: jokes on you, my family's dead.

Jesus.

"Okay," Duna nodded as she examined all the idol pieces Hunter had brought, "I believe that this is all of them."

"Great, this is the part where we burn them, right?" Spinax was practically bouncing around in Hunter's mind, "please let me burn them, I haven't seen any action In weeks." Hunter rolled his eyes.

"1. You don't breath fire. 2. Three days ago you were going prehistoric on a bunch of robots."

"Has it only been three days? It feels like it's been at least a month." Hunter ignored spinax and looked over at Rosie and Mr. Richmond, who hadn't stopped hugging each other since Mr. Richmond learned his granddaughter wasn't a rat anymore.

"Hold on," Duna quickly looked inside one of the hollow idol pieces, "Oh no. The idol is missing its core processor." (Cross: I don't remember what it's called.)

"Is that bad?" Hunter asked, "Don't we want the idol to not work?"

"If Dynal retrieves the Core processor, they could rebuild a replica of the green idol in less than a day."

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to go find it."

"One problem," Rosie pointed at the computer map of Vivosaur Island, "there are no more idol pieces left. We're all gonna die!"

"Calm down Rosie," Rosie whipped around to face Hunter and ended up smacking him into the wall.

"I DON'T WANNA CALM DOWN!" Suddenly, a cloud of smoke enveloped Rosie. When the smoke cleared, Rat Rosie was back.

"Interesting," Duna mumbled, "high levels of distress cause the regression ray's effect to trigger again."

Mr. Richmond sighed as he picked up Rat Rosie, "there is one place this core processor could be. Someplace that is not detectable by radar. The secret site."

"Cool sounding place. Bad sounding name." Spinax commented.

"What's the secret site?" Hunter asked.

"The secret site," Mr. Richmond replied, "is an island Diggins and I discovered a long time ago. It's where the doctor found the technology to create the revival machine. The secret site…is a crash site."

"A crash site?"

"A crash site of a spaceship."

"Excuse me?" Duna was now very invested in the conversation, "did you say spaceship? As in an alien spacecraft?'

"Oh crap." Hunter realized what Duna was implying, "you mean that the secret site is."

"A crashed Dinaurian ship. Yes. Mr. Richmond, please give me the coordinates to this location. I must go there immediately."

"It's 20^23' 59.99" latitude." Mr Richmond started. Duna began pressing buttons on her pendant, "-89^30' 59.99" longitude." (Cross: Didn't have degree marks so I used ^ instead)

"Wait," Hunter tried to object, "I don't think you-" too late. Duna had already typed the coordinates in on her pendant and teleported off to god knows were.

"I suppose I shouldn't have been so hasty," Mr. Richmond laughed nervously.

"The one that got away," Spinax moaned mockingly, "such sweet sorrow."

"Shut up spinax."

"What should we do now grandpa?" Rosie asked.

"I suppose we'll have to send someone after her."

"Hunter'l Do it."

"Whoa, I didn't agree to this!" Hunter tried to interject while called the docks to allow Hunter to go to the secret site.

"Hunter, Hunter, Hunter," Rosie patted Hunter on the shoulder, "you know you would've volunteered anyway. This is how the plot moves forward."

"She can't do that!" Spinax roared, "I'm the only one who can break the fourth wall!"

"Get over yourself," Hunter shrugged and turned away from Rosie, "I guess I'll go then." He nodded to Mr. Richmond, who was still on the phone, and left the lab. As he made his way out of the Richmond building, Hunter pulled a shiny gold fossil out of his hand. A piece of a miraculous fossil rock.

"Can we use that?" Spinax asked, "like, right now?"

"There's not enough of it to actually use," Hunter replied, "the only reason you can do that weird ghost crystal….you know what is because of this. If I try to use it on you and it doesn't work, we'd have wasted your strongest ability."

"Can't we bend the rules a little bit."

"We didn't make the rules."

"Who did?"

"God."

"Who's god?"

"….the revival machine."

"Ohhhhhhhh. Well, if he makes the rules, then you think he bent them when you were born?" Rule 1 of life: every creature has to have a soul.

"Maybe, we'll never know for sur- OW!"

"Medic!"

"I'm fine, it's just my stupid eye."

"Does it feel like an intense burning pain that kinda feels like your eye's on fire?"

"…how did you know?"

"Same thing happens to me when I do the ghost crystal dinosaur thing."

"Weird. It started happening to me when the Dinaurians invaded the secret lab."

"Turn left." Hunter did so, avoiding a cyclist going too fast to stop. They continued talking for a while until Hunter reached the docks. Beth simply nodded to Hunter when he went up to the desk and not five minutes later a ship pulled in. Hunter boarded the vessel and set off towards the west. After two games of poker and four games of go fish (all of which Hunter lost because spinax could see his hand), they finally arrived at the secret site.

"Woah!"

"Eh, I've seen bigger." Most of the small island was covered by a badly rusted giant metal object. It was unmistakably a spaceship. Hunter got off the boat and walked around the ship. The island itself was very small, Hunter bet it would take two minutes to run from one end to the other, but the strange design of the ship made moving around it a chore. Ducking under a twisted piece of scrap metal, Hunter noticed a hole in the hull of the ship big enough for him to squeeze through.

"Can we not?" Spinax asked, "I don't do well in tight spaces."

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"In a wide open field where I can turn without knocking something over."

"….too bad!" Spinax growled as Hunter entered the hull of the ship. He noticed that the floor had green light running through it.

"This place still has power?" Hunter scratched his head, "what the heck is it powering?"

"A secret lab in the basement that has cyborgs in it?"

"…you watch too much tv."

"You don't watch enough." Hunter walked further into the spaceship, following the green lines underfoot. Eventually he encountered Duna standing near a glass wall. Behind the wall was a large pink chunk of…something.

"Oh, hello Hunter," Duna said when she noticed him, "it appears my suspicions were correct. This was an old Dinaurian ship that crashed on earth."

"But why did it crash? And why is it here?"

"That is…a very long story."

"I got time." Duna sighed.

"Very well. Hunter, are you aware of why the Dinaurians are trying to populate earth?"

"….a crispy cream on every corner?"

"I am going to pretend I did not hear that. The reason the Dinaurians are even in space to begin with is because our home planet was destroyed."

"Destroyed?! An entire planet!? How?"

"It was eaten."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Duna grabbed Hunter's hand and lifted it up with her own.

"Please you must believe me. Our planet was destroyed by a vile monster. The scourge of the galaxy."

"Unicron?"

"Aha!" Spinax gloated, "you do watch tv!" Duna shook her head.

"The creature's name is Guhnash. It devoured our planet and left us homeless. They few remaining survivors set out in ships for a new home."

"Okay," Hunter nodded, "I understand so far, but that still doesn't explain why this ship is here."

"This ship was sent out by the mother ship many years ago, and that is because of this." She pointed at the pink mass behind the glass.

"What is that?" Hunter asked.

"That is a group of guhnash's cells. We scraped it off the monster's body in hopes of finding a weakness. Unfortunately, every piece of guhnash is a living weapon. The cells infected the ship, which crash landed here. We traced the signal of this ship on our mother ship and found earth."

"Wow. This is a lot to take in." Hunter rested his hand on his head, "so, did you find a weakness?"

"After extensive research we came to one conclusion: there is no way to kill guhnash." Hunter's eyes widened

"Well, let's hope this guy doesn't stick his ugly mug near earth. Anyway, where're those power lines going?"

"I'm not sure, I was just about to follow them." Hunter gasped as Duna started to walk away.

"What is wrong? You seem distressed."

"You just used a contraction!" Spinax roared in triumph while Hunter laughed, "you don't sound like a robot anymore!"

"A robot?" Duna realized what Hunter meant and chuckled slightly, "I suppose after spending so much time with humans, I've developed a bit of an accent."

"Good thing you guys didn't land in Australia then. I don't think I'd be able to understand any of you."

"Excuse me?"

"It's nothing, Let's get moving." They followed the green power lines along the floor for a few minutes. Hunter had to jump a few times to avoid stepping on Duna's tail, which always got him a weird look from Duna while spinax laughed. Eventually, he tripped over something else: a large stone tablet with writing on it.

"Hmm," Duna examined the tablet, "what ancient language is this?"

"That's….English….huh?" Hunter grabbed the stone slate, "this rock has got to be thousands of years old, how the heck is there English on it?"

"78 million years ago to be exact." Duna studied the rock. Hunter was about to ask how he knew that, but decided he didn't care.

"Hey, that's my time!" Spinax yelled, "before I was a zombie."

"You are not a-"

"Zombie. Noun: a reanimated corpse."

"…oh my god you're a zombie."

"Hunter, I have a request," Hunter turned to Duna, who's eyes were lit up with curiosity.

"Could you…please read what's on the tablet to me?"

"Oooooooooooooooooooo." Spinax managed to get out before Hunter quickly stuffed his medal in his back pocket and sat down.

"Yeah, sure. I can read this," Hunter picked up the tablet and eased it against the wall, " The journey I took to get to this place was treacherous. So dangerous, in fact, that I lost both my sandals on the way."

"No," Spinax slid out from Hunter's pocket.

"As soon as I came to this world, I was attacked by a Tyrannosaurus rex. It would have eaten me if I wasn't so minty fresh. Thank god for mint soap. I set off for this place in hopes of salvation. However, on the way I stumbled upon an aggressive stegosaurs mom and her babies. I nearly got my head loped off. It's a shame, stegosaurus was my favorite dinosaur.

"Nonono."

"Once I reached the bay, I hitched a ride on a large piece of drift wood. Unfortunately, that piece of driftwood was a plesiosaur that ditched me. I had to swim the rest of the way. After that a pteranodon pick me up and tried to feed me to her babies. Once again, thank god for mint soap. The absolute worst, however, was being chased by a crazy Altispinax…"

"NO NO NO."

"It played a hearty game of baseball with me as the ball. I got launched all the way here." Once Hunter had finished reading, He grabbed spinax's dino medal and nearly crushed it in his hand.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Playing baseball with the doc. Why don't you remember any of that?"

"…multiverse theory?"

"Fair enough," Hunter turned to Duna, "Well, I have a pretty good idea who this is, but I'll need to make sure."

"As do I," Duna replied, "the next room holds both the signal for the core processor and is where the power lines converge. We should proceed." Hunter nodded and the two walked into the next room. Inside was…a stone sleep chamber with someone in it. Extra layers of stone had covered the general shape, but Hunter didn't need a clear view to make a pretty good guess about who it was.

"Impossible," Duna said when she checked the computer, "this is a human? But how did…oh dear,"

"Looks like the old Doctor wasn't gonna let us forget him that easy." Hunter couldn't help but smile. Dr. Diggins was alive! Well, sort of.

"That is good, but it is not what I am concerned about," Duna gestured towards the large lump of rock, "under all those layers of rock, Dr. Diggins is holding the core processor. If I was able to track it with the weak signal my scanner puts out, then-"

"With our vastly superior technology, we should be able to find it as well." Another voice finished for her. Hunter whipped around and faced Raptin as he entered the room.

"Well look here, both traitors gathered together. The one that disobeyed our orders, and the one that betrayed her race. You two make quite a pair."

"Cut the crap," Hunter growled, "try anything funny and I'll rip you in half."

"And by you, you mean me right?" Spinax asked hopefully, "I could use the exercise." Raptin laughed.

"And of course, who could forget the talking lizard. Strange how you two can communicate, is it not?" Raptin started walking towards Duna. Hunter instinctively moved in front of her.

"How selfless, guarding those you care about. I wonder if you would do the same if you knew."

"Knew what?" Hunter turned to face Duna, but she avoided his gaze.

"Why, I'm referring to who gave the Idea of retrieving you, and by extension, the one responsible for the death of your caretakers."

"…"

"Hunter," Duna choked up, "I-"

"Is it true?"

"I was just a child, I didn't understand what would happen."

"IS IT TRUE."

"…yes, I was the one who suggested to King Dynal that we retrieve you. I am…responsible for the death of your foster parents."

"…"

"Oh, how the plot thickens," Raptin laughed, "what will our hero do now? Will you fight to protect a murderer?"

"Raptin, you know I didn't kill anyone!" Duna stepped forward, "Dynal gave the order to kill the humans, do not shift the blame!"

"Oh really?" A ring of light surrounded Raptin, "then riddle me this, traitor. Who is at fault for your death?" Raptin charged. In a flash of light, Raptin transformed into a sleek raptor-like creature. Duna transformed into a dinosaur as well and the two began fighting.

"What are you standing around for?!" Spinax yelled at Hunter, "let's get in there and bust some heads!"

"I don't know what to believe anymore," Hunter steadily looked down, "I'm not human, there's this alien race trying to kill us all (sort of), one of Them's trying to help us, but she's also kinda the reason my parents are dead. To top it all off, I don't have a soul so I shouldn't be alive in the first place. It's just been one shattering blow after another. I can't take this anymore." Hunter kneeled down on the ground and let tears fall from his face.

"Maybe I should just fall asleep and never wake up. That would help everyone." Raptin broke away from Duna and rushed at Hunter.

"HOW THE HELL WOULD THAT HELP!?" Spinax roared as he charged out of his medal. The brute force of spinax's charge caught Raptin by surprise and knocked him back into the wall. Before Hunter could fully process what happened, spinax whirled around and clotheslined him with his tail before roaring in his face. Hunter's ears rang as they started to bleed a little.

"I don't give a damn about all that crap!" Spinax bellowed, "so what if you don't have a soul? You're still my friend and I'm not gonna let you die!" Spinax grabbed Raptin's neck in his jaws and threw the raptor across the room.

"We're…friends?" Hunter muttered.

"Of course we are! What made you think we weren't?"

"You've never said I was your friend before. I thought you hated me with all the times I've forced you to fight and all the other crap I've put you through."

"Friends will help you out of trouble, best friends will laugh at you and get into the same kind of trouble."

"I guess I'd forgotten about that." Hunter laughed. There were other people too: Spinax, Rosie, Holt, and even Duna. They wouldn't want him to die.

"You idiot! Master assassin my aft end. You'd forget who you're supposed to kill."

"Hey! At least I don't have an inferiority complex." Hunter was still crying, but he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I don't have an inferiority complex! Anything that beats me just has to die. That's a rule."

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Then prove it. P-o-i-n-t-y."

"…you know, the thing is I know you're playing me…but I don't care." The miraculous fossil rock piece began to glow. As spinax lunged towards Raptin, the ghost dinosaur appeared and grabbed Raptin by the throat. As he dragged Raptin across the wall, Hunter ran to the stone sleep device. Instead entering a complex code to deactivate it, he just hit it with the foldax. Miraculously, that worked.

"Fair enough," Hunter shrugged. He grabbed the stone person and stuffed it under his arm. Duna kicked Raptin over to spinax, who brought his fist (the ghost fist anyway) down on the raptor.

"Time to go!" Hunter yelled, holding the stone person above his head. Duna transformed back to a Dinaurian. Raptin broke away from spinax and shrieked as he charged after them.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Hunter heard a voice painfully echo through his head., "you filthy half-breed. You have no right!"

"Wait Wait Wait." Spinax paused, "this guy can talk in your head too?"

"Doesn't that mean he's the guy that kicked our tail as a hood in chapter 11?" Hunter said with a grin, "3…2…1."

"THAT LIZARD IS DEAD." Spinax began glowing green. Hunter's eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen.

"That's a bad idea. That's a really bad idea."

"Don't care, blowing this place to hell now."

"Stick to the plan!"

"Renegade for life!" Raptin could do little as spinax grabbed him for a close range cyclonic rage.

"Sorry doc." Hunter threw the stone man with all his energy through the doorway and went back to get Duna, who was stumbling from an injury.

"Leave me," Duna said when Hunter reached her, "I'll only be a burden." For a moment, Hunter considered it. Duna admitted to being responsible for the death of his parents…No. NO. Duna didn't kill his parents. Dynal gave the order. Besides, if he abandoned her, wouldn't that just be acting like how the Dinaurians picture humans?

"Sorry about this." Hunter laughed nervously.

"About wha-" Hunter grabbed Duna's legs and hoisted her up.

"Ah! What are you doing!?" Duna lashed out in surprise and punched Hunter in the nose. That didn't stop him. He ran to the doorway, put Duna down, and closed the large metal doors just in time for an earth shaking explosion. For a while, Hunter just lay on the floor, pinching his nose to keep it from bleeding. Duna was looking up, her breathing was ragged. Hunter noticed a small amount of purple liquid on her leg. It took him a moment to realize that was her blood.

"Sorry again," he blurted out awkwardly, "I just wanted to get us out of there."

"Don't worry about it," Duna said, "I apologize for hurting you."

"Careful Duna, you're starting to talk like me." The two chuckled for a moment before Hunter lifted himself back up. He slowly opened the door again to reveal a big pile of rumble with spinax asleep on top of it. The back wall had been completely destroyed, exposing the room to sunlight.

"Oh, good morning," spinax grinned while opening one eyelid, "is breakfast ready?"

"Breakfast was eight hours ago. Where's Raptin."

"By now, I'd say he's reached the stratosphere."

"You're a sick son of a spinosaurus. You know that?"

"Whatever you are, be a good one. Somebody famous said that. Can we go home now?"

Done! Finally got this chapter finished after a week of writers block and procrastinating.

Hunter: wait, so it really has been a month since we were on the spaceship?

Give or take a few days. Why do you care?

Hunter: I don't, he does

Spinax: WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG!?

That is…an excellent question. Speaking of questions. Question of the day: where do the coordinates of the secret site lead to on earth? (yes, it is an actual location). Thanks for reading!


	35. Chapter 34

Journey of the soul chapter 34

Holy crap

Hunter: What?

I just realized what part of the game I'm at.

Hunter: what part is it? What's it like

…I feel like you know at this point I'm not going to tell you.

Hunter: I know, but it's still fun.

Whatever, I guess I'll make a comparison. It's like when you're about to launch a spirit bomb at the emperor of the galaxy.

Hunter: oh…neat. I wonder how many people got that reference?

Not enough, that's for sure

"Hey spinax."

"What's up?"

"I've been thinking about how impractical cyclonic rage is. How does it even work anyway?"

"Hmm. Have you ever held your breath for such a long time that when you exhale it's one big burst?"

"Yeah?"

"Multiply that burst by 1000 and you have a fraction of my true power." Spinax laughed maniacally, "mortals can never even grasp the idea of my true-"

"Blah blah blah. Greatest of all time. I get it. Anyway, I modeled that attack after Saurhead's hellfire technique, but it's completely different.

"I thought we were just spitballing when we came up with that."

"Can you two please be a little quieter?" Duna said impatiently. They were in the fossil center and Duna was mercilessly slaving away at the cleaning room interface. Hunter sat in the corner watching the cleaning machine remove the extra layers of rock from the man in stone sleep.

"Sorry Duna," Hunter whispered as he continued the conversation, "Anyway, I realized how hellfire works too and I think we can use it too."

"I can make fire tornadoes shoot out of the ground?"

"For the last time, you CAN'T use fire, the tornadoes don't even come from the ground, they come from T-Rex's feet."

"That sounds impractical and slightly overwhelming."

"Which means it's perfect for you to use too."

"…I walked right into that one."

"Please be quiet!" Duna raised her voice, "I must focus."

"Actually Duna," Hunter tried his best to sound composed, "I've been meaning to ask, how can you hear me and spinax?"

"Your telepathic ability was supposed to open your mind to all Dinaurians. However, due to mutations, concise thoughts from you causes a strange sensation to Dinaurians instead."

"Huh, weird," Hunter looked down at his hands, "but if I really tried, would I be able to read a Dinaurian's mind?"

"Highly unlikely. At the most you would be able to project an image…"

"…."

"…..stop trying to put an image in my head."

"Worth a shot." Hunter twiddled his thumbs in silence while Duna typed in new commands for the cleaning tools. Eventually, a bright light filled the cleaning tank.

"Revival complete: 125 points." The computer voice blipped. Hunter's jaw dropped. Exactly how many times has Duna done this? The door to the cleaning tank opened and out walked a newly revived doctor Diggins.

"Oh wow, what a surprise." Spinax mocked, "no one EVER saw that coming." Diggins had a yellow cloak with brown spots covering his entire body. His turquoise hair was ruffled almost as much as Hunter's. His glasses, miraculously, were still intact.

"Good to have you back Doc!" Hunter waved at the Doctor, who growled in response. Duna shook her head as Hunter growled back.

"Has he forgotten to speak English?" She muttered.

"This should jog his memory," Hunter ran to a cabinet, being chased by the doctor on all fours. He rummaged through a few different cleaning tools until he found it, a small package of dino cakes.

"Hey doc, can I get clearance for Knotwood Forest?" Hunter waved a Dino cake in front of the Doctor. He immediately stood up and snatched it.

"Mine!" Diggins shrieked, "Wait…testing, 1 2. The square root of 4.3328714e+13 is 6582455. Oh, hello Hunter. When did you get to the Cretaceous period?"

"Uh, Doc?" Hunter gestured around him, "we're not in the Cretaceous period." The doctor looked around.

"This is…the fossil center…I'm back." The doctor jumped for joy, "haha! I knew I'd make it back here someday!" Hunter laughed as Diggins started to dance. Hunter gave the doctor a basic rundown of what happened in his absence.

"Excuse me Doctor, do you have the core processor for the green idol?" Duna asked. Diggins reaches into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a small glowing orb.

"I made sure to hang on to this no matter what," He explained, "it wasn't easy, I even lost my sanda-"

"I've seen the tablet." Hunter interrupted.

"Oh…okay." Dr. Diggins handed the core processor to Hunter and whispered to him, "What exactly are you?" Hunter sighed. He had been dreading this. Before Dr. Diggins has been sent to the past, he learned that Hunter is specimen X.

"I say we gag him and lock him up in the basement," spinax suggested, "no one will ever know as long as he keeps his mouth shut."

"That's illegal, and I'm not exactly on good terms with law enforcement as is."

"Just sayin'. We have options."

"You're insane."

"I'm tired. It's been a long day. FACE MY DROWSY FURY!" Hunter sighed again and turned back to Dr. Diggins.

"I'll tell you once this is all over. For now, just trust me when I say I'm here to help." The doctor contemplated this for a moment.

"Okay, I believe you. But that isn't going to change what I heard in the idol room."

"Thanks doc."

"Now, I believe this should go to you." Hunter looked at the core processor. He debated just crushing it in his hand.

"You go on to Rosie and Mr. Richmond, Hunter," Duna assured him, "I will inform Dr. Diggins about recent events."

"Right." Hunter walked out of the fossil center and went on his way to the Richmond building.

"Soooooooo," spinax yawned, "what about cyclonic rage?"

"Oh yeah, we were talking about something before we brought back the caveman," Hunter moved his hands behind his head. "When Saurhead's t-rex uses hellfire, the fire doesn't just shoot out of the ground. It comes from t-Rex's feet."

"Like rocket boots?"

"…..sure. So, I was thinking that if you did the same thing, you'd be able to launch yourself in the air and maybe even stay up there."

"Like vivosaur man?"

"….yes, you will fly like Vivosaur man…"

"Nice." Hunter walked up the steps of the Richmond building. Once his hand touched the door, Hunter's eye began to burn again.

Ugh, why does this crap always happen to me?" Hunter walked down the stairs and entered the secret lab. Rosie was down there trying to fit together the idol pieces like a puzzle.

"Hey, you guys made it back!" She said when she saw Hunter.

"Wait, what made you think we wouldn't make it back?"

"Denture sharks." Hunter rolled his eyes as Rosie continued, "did you get the core processor thing?"

"Yep, and a lot more." Hunter handed the core processor to Rosie.

"Now have we saved the world?" Spinax asked, "I'm gettin' real tired of this alien crap."

"Ah, you have collected the pieces of the idolcomp. Good work you two." Hunter turned to see Mr. Richmond walking into the lab.

"Thanks mr. Richmond," Hunter nodded, "but didn't you know we collected the pieces already?" Mr Richmond laughed.

"Oh dear, a slip of the tongue."

"Red flag!" Spinax yelled, "this guy creeps me out"

"It's just mr. Richmond spinax, chill out ."

"I don't wanna." Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Now," Mr. Richmond said in a surprisingly smooth voice, "can you two assemble the idolcomp please?"

"But grandpa," Rosie chimed in, "aren't we trying to destroy the idol? What good would putting it back together do?"

"Why, my dear Rosie. We cannot destroy the idolcomp unless we know that we have all of it. Yes, that is it."

"This is another red flag right?" Hunter asked spinax.

"Crimson. He's talking like he's from the 70's, called Rosetta "rosie", he keeps calling the idol an "idolcomp", and he hasn't said a contraction this entire time."

"Dinaurian?"

"Dinaurian." Hunter nodded and his hand flew to the handle of his foldax. He flipped out the blades and point the makeshift weapon at Mr. Richmond.

"What's my last name?" Hunter asked.

"Have you lost it?" Rosie screeched, "put that thing down!"

"What's. My. Last. Name."

"This is madness!" Mr. Richmond scoffed. Rosie grabbed Hunter's arm and tried to pull him away, but he didn't falter.

"Answer the question, or do you not know? I've told Mr. Richmond before. He should know."

"I am Mr. Richmond and I do know!"

"What's your first name?"

"…"

"I don't know that either." Spinax chimed in. Just then, Hunter heard the metal door to the secret lab swing open and someone walk into the room. He turned to see…Mr. Richmond… staring at the other Mr. Richmond.

"That man is an imposter!" Spinax switched voices mid sentence, "that man is the imposter!"

"Two grandpa's?" Rosie was frozen with shock. Before anyone could react, the fake Mr. Richmond pulled a gun out of his pocket and fired a yellow beam at Rosie. Her body shook dramatically, but she didn't react.

"What's going on?!" Rosie yelled, "I can't move!"

"How dare you!" Mr. Richmond charged at himself, but met the same fate as Rosie.

"Complete paralysis," The fake Mr. Richmond laughed, "unfortunately, it has no effect on filthy half breeds like you." Hunter swung at the disguised Dinaurian, but they dodged with speed that betrayed their physical appearance.

"So, which one are you?" Hunter mocked, "Raptin? No, he's probably still flying through the atmosphere. Maybe you're just a nameless throwaway grunt."

"Oh, how mistaken you are." The Dinaurian laughed.

"T-t-that guy is a d-d-Dinaurian?" Rosie gasped rigidly, "Hunter! The idol!" Hunter took another swing at the Dinaurian to get them away from the idol. But before he could turn around for another attack, his mind was bombarded by a series of images. Pain racked his skull as he fell to his knees.

"Seizure warning!" Spinax yelled before he was drowned out by the sheer bombardment on Hunter's brain. He saw a younger him in a square room, staring at someone through the glass. He saw himself in his Dinaurian disguise next to Duna. Hunter's eye burned as he gathered the strength to get up and look the disguised king of Dinaurians face to face.

"Look At you, reduced to such a pitiful state." Dynal scoffed.

"Shut up," Hunter shakily started to move. Dynal lifted up the green Idol and walked out, kicking Hunter to make him fall over again.

"If you wish to save this pathetic species, come to the ship." Dynal muttered before leaving. Hunter gritted his teeth and pushed himself up, using a table as support.

"H-h-Hunter." Rosie jittered as she remained stuck in place, "you gotta stop that guy!" Hunter took a deep breath and nodded, still shaken from Dynal's mental assault.

"Get up lazy bum!" Spinax snorted, "there's work to be done!"

"Working on it." Hunter tried to run, but his shaking bones and burning eye reduced his speed to a crawl. He slowly trudged up the stairs, every muscle screaming at him to stop. He reached the top and nearly collapsed. He looked ahead to see two people. One was slumped over on the ground.

"Duna!" Hunter dragged himself over to her. She was on the floor with a large black mark on her forehead. Dr. Diggins was in a kneeling position next to her paralyzed.

"Hunter, y-y-you have to follow Dynal," Dr. Diggins choked out, "h-h-he knocked out Duna and p-p-paralyzed me." Hunter didn't reply. He held Duna's forehead to his chest. He listened to her breathing for a moment. A new pain arose. A fiery intensity in his eye. It burned with rage.

"5…4…," spinax began counting down, "3…2…1,"

"That bastard is going to pay." All of Hunter's previous fatigue and shock disappeared in an instant. He darted outside and flew down the stairs. As he ran across the guild area, he heard the intercom voice ring out.

"Attention all citizens, evacuate Vivosaur Island immediately. This is an emergency." Hunter looked across the docs to see boats carrying large groups of people of the island. As he neared the fighter area, the sound of people talking and crying children who had just been woken up filled his ears. Hunter looked up at the night sky once more before darting into the fossil center. Dynal was up there somewhere, waiting to obliterate everyone in a single button press.

"Time to kick tail." Spinax remarked as Hunter ran to the warehouse, getting a quick nod from Wendy.

"We're gonna do more than that." Hunter slammed his hand on the large red button and vaulted himself onto the teleporter. Orange rings of light surrounded him as he readied two dino medals.

" I haven't used you guys in a while and I'm sorry, but right now I need you two to rain as much hell as possible." Spinax began a series of growls.

"What are you doing?" Hunter asked.

"Conveying the message,"

"I thought you said my vivosaurs can hear my thoughts too?"

"April fools?"

"It's November,"

"Teleporting now." Hunter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he was at the all too familiar teleporter.

"What the-?" One unlucky Dinaurian was in the same room. In one swift motion, Hunter slammed the blunt edge of his foldax into the Dinaurian's head. Leaving the knocked out grunt on the ground, Hunter burst into the next room.

"Delta, let's go!" Delta spring out of its dino medal and was determined to flood the stone sleep chamber. Hunter smiled as a Dinomaton was called in and immediately short circuited from the water. One Dinaurian stood guard at the entrance to the hallway. Hunter sent them sprawling to the ground.

"S-raptor, burn it up!" S-raptor shot a stream of flame down one side of the hallway while Hunter ran along the other. A fire burned not only in the hall, but in Hunter's eyes as well. He approached the Purple sort-of door and walked through it, ready to face what lies ahead.

The room was dimly lit. The main idolcomp and the green, red, blue, and yellow idolcomps all glowed ominously (although the yellow still looked ridiculous). Dynal was standing with his back to Hunter, staring up at the main idolcomp.

"I assumed you would be smart and realize that there was no point in coming here," Dynal sighed, "I suppose you get that from your human side."

"And what exactly does that mean?" Hunter crossed his arms, "why am I the way that I am? Why do I look like a human when I'm half Dinaurian? Why does my eye burn every time I'm here? What kind of sick and twisted lab experiment am I?"

"You ask quite a few questions for someone about to die. However, I suppose you do deserve some form of closure." Dynal gestured towards the side of the room. Hunter looked at the dim wall until he saw the outline of a door.

"What's back there?" He asked.

"Answers,"

"How do I know that you won't just activate the idols while I'm in there?"

"If I considered you a threat, then I would have activated them already." Hunter scowled.

"Should we risk it?" He asked spinax.

"Worth a shot, stuff would finally make sense for once." Hunter slowly walked over to the door, not taking his eyes off Dynal for one second. When he opened the door, he saw a long row of machines with glass containers as big as a human on top of them. The room seemed to be a never ending hall. The only light was a row of red lights on the machines with a green light further down. There was a flickering blue light near the end that was hard to make out. Hunter walked up to the first machine and read the writing on the side. Surprisingly, it was in English.

Specimen A: 89%D/11%H

FAILURE

"Revival machine Christ." Spinax whispered. There was a hand in the glass container. A mangled, disfigured hand with only three fingers. Hunter silently walked onward, staring at the red FAILURE on each machine. Inside each glass container was a mangled mess of a person. Specimen G was a skin colored tail. Specimen I was just hardened purple and red blood. Hunter held back the vomit in his throat while spinax showed no shame in gagging at each horrible flesh bag they saw. Eventually, they reached the machine with the green light. The container was empty.

Specimen K: 42%D/58%H

SUCCESS: Son of Karcas

Whereabouts: Unknown

Soul: Returned

Attributes:

Cellular regeneration

Clairvoyance

Hunter shivered. Someone like him is somewhere out there in the world with the ability to read minds. He continued onward, not bothering to look at the other machines this time. He knew what he was after. Eventually he reached it. The machine with the blue light. This light came from a ball of blue flame in the glass container. It was no bigger than Hunter's palm. Hunter's eyes darted to the screen, ignoring the green light further on.

Specimen X: 37%D/63%H

SUCCESS: Son of Xeno

Whereabouts: Known

Soul: Present

Attributes:

Telepathy

Pyrokinesis

Natural Enhancement

Hunter's entire body shook. Present. His soul is present. His soul is here.

That blue flame is his soul

The door opened from the end of the hall. Dynal was standing in the doorway.

"How." Hunter said blankly, "How do I get that back?"

"That is something I cannot answer." Dynal replied, "the other specimens have had their souls returned to them. They simply disappeared from containment one day."

"Huh…" Hunter stared at his soul. He put his hand up to the glass.

"I'll be back for you," He whispered, "but there's something I have to take care of first."

"Time to kick tail?" Spinax asked.

"You know it." Hunter walked back down the hall when a thought occurred to him. His father, his REAL father, was the traitor that sent the idols to earth. Hunter smiled.

"Tell me, Hunter, why do you think I go to such extremes?" Dynal asked. They were back in the main room now, "say what you will about me, but I simply want to make my people happy."

"How long ago did guhnash destroy your planet?" Hunter's reply caught Dynal by surprise.

"How do you know about my planet?"

"Doesn't matter, answer the question." Dynal sighed.

"Excluding the 250 million years in stone sleep, it would have been 40 years ago."

"Do you remember it at all."

"Yes, I am one of the few who does."

"Hmm." Hunter looked up at the main idolcomp, "I guess that, in a way, you guys are like me, you want a place to call home."

"Is this planet not your home?"

"It is, but it doesn't feel like it anymore. I used to think that I knew exactly where I belong in this world, now I feel like an outlier with nowhere to go."

"I suppose we are alike in that way." Dynal nodded, an orange ring of light surrounded him, "but I cannot let my entire race live without a home, just as you cannot let the people you consider your race to go extinct."

Hunter pulled spinax's dino medal out of his holder, "guess not." He spun spinax's medal on his finger, for old time's sake.

"SPINAX!" Spinax didn't roar when he appeared. He silently glared as Dynal transformed into a baryonyx-Like creature.

"Spinax fang!" Spinax launched himself at Dynal at brought his jaws down on the Dinaurian's neck, "Now, up!"

"…what?"

"You know, what we talked about!"

"Oh yeah, do you thin-"

"DO IT!" Spinax fired cyclones from his feet that sent both him and Dynal into the air. Unfortunately, spinax didn't control the wind very well and the two crashed into the side of the room. Dynal recovered first and slashed his claws along spinax's tail. Spinax responded by kicking Dynal in the jaw.

"Cyclone!" Spinax shot a tornado that ripped through the room. Dynal avoided a direct hit, but still flinched. This left spinax with an opening to stomp on Dynal's tail.

"Once more, Cyclone!" Spinax unleashed another tornado right in Dynal's face. He was sent flying into the wall. when Spinax let go. Dynal braced his feet against the wall and kicked himself forward. He rocketed towards spinax with open jaws and the two collided. Dynal was the first to recover and quickly rushed at Spinax with his claws.

"Harden!" Spinax guarded himself from the flurry of slashes. Dynal backflipped, whacking spinax with his tail, and began to charge a beam attack.

"Cyclonic breath!" Spinax began charging his own attack.

"Since when do you charge up?" Hunter asked.

"Since when do you question my methods?"

"Since forever."

"Exactly." Dynal fired a pure white beam at spinax who responded with a raging green laser. The two rays collided and struggled for a moment before dispersing. Dynal used that time to get behind a distracted spinax.

"Behind you!" Hunter yelled. Spinax whipped around quick enough to avoid having his eyes gouged out, but Dynal's claw left a long gash on spinax's face. Spinax roared and charged, grabbing Dynal's tail in his jaws.

"Now!" Hunter pulled the miraculous fossil rock piece out of his pocket and it began to glow. A shadow of giga spinax (Hunter looked up the name of the evolved vivosaur because he was tired of saying ghost crystal dragon) appeared over spinax.

"Spinax mega!" Howling winds enveloped spinax's fist as he brought it down on Dynal. Dynal slammed onto the ground. Hunter took a deep breath.

"See?" Spinax gloated, "nothin' to wor-" Dynal launched himself upward and bit down on spinax's neck. Spinax shrieked and slammed his side into the wall to get Dynal off, but the Dinaurian has latched on. Hunter could see white wisps of energy trailing from Dynal's mouth.

"Harden quick!" Spinax boosted his defense just as Dynal fires multiple blasts at point blank range. Spinax thrashed a struggled, but he couldn't break free from Dynal.

"Up now!" Spinax fired cyclones from his feet again, lifting the two in the air again. Hunter saw Dynal's foot slip from its hold.

"Cyclone!" Spinax's tornado blew Dynal backwards into the wall, but it didn't stop there. Giga spinax grabbed Dynal and dragged him across the wall, sending debris flying everywhere. Spinax threw Dynal to the ground and began charging for a finisher.

"Cyclonic breath!" Spinax and his shadow counterpart both fired fiery green lasers at Dynal. The blow left Dynal a crippled mess on the ground.

"Now, Spinax mega! Finish this!" Spinax rocketed downward, both him and giga spinax roaring. But before they reached Dynal, giga spinax disappeared and spinax toppled to the ground next to Dynal. Hunter ran to spinax's side.

"What happened?"

"I may have been fighting a little over my head."

"What?"

"I'm not as strong as I thought I was." It was rare for spinax to be so frank about himself.

"Out of gas?"

"Bone dry."

"…shit." Dynal got up again and stared down spinax menacingly. He lifted a foot to crush spinax's rib cage. Hunter stared helplessly as Spinax was stomped on over and over.

"Bastard!" Rage clouded Hunter's vision as he swung his fold ax and dug it into Dynal's ankle. He screeched and tail whipped Hunter, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Dynal's claw wrapped around Hunter. One claw came dangerously close to decapitating him. Hunter felt an outside source attack his mind. But in his broken state, he felt no pain.

"Any last words?" Said a voice in his head. He knew it was Dynal.

"Go to hell." Hunter opened one eyelid to see Dynal's sneering face. He also saw spinax rise up behind Dynal, giga spinax flickered above him.

"SPINAX MEGA!" Hunter shouted. He was sent careening into the air when Dynal was literally back stabbed by spinax. Spinax caught Hunter with giga spinax's hand and set him on the ground. Dynal returned to Dinaurian form as spinax returned to his dino medal.

"How!?" Dynal sputtered in anger, "how are you this powerful?!"

"Pushups, sit-ups, and plenty of milk," Hunter replied weakly. The two lay on the ground next to each other, gasping for air. Inches apart, but no one moved.

"I did everything," Dynal said softly, "everything I possibly could to ensure a home for my people. There were mistakes along the way, but I still had hope. Now here I am, defeated and broken at the steps of the palace."

"I'm sure that's a metaphor for something, but I'm too messed up to understand it right now." To Hunter's surprise, Dynal chuckled.

"Ironic, is it not? The thing I created to help my cause became my downfall. Even now, you lay there with your infuriating attitude."

"I guess it just runs in my genes to mess up your plans," Hunter chuckled, "to be honest, I don't hate you."

"I find that highly unlikely."

"Well, I did at one point. I can't forgive you for what you've done, but I can understand why you did it. You killed my parents, you killed my parents…again, and you made my life a living hell, but all you wanted was a home. I can relate to that."

Dynal looked up steadily, "I apologize for the death of your parents, I take full responsibility."

"Well," Hunter lifted his foldax and flipped the blades back to the sides. He hit Dynal in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, "consider that payback."

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Dynal remarked, "you do understand that you are having a conversation with a murderer, correct?"

"Not much of a threat, I'm a murderer too, remember?" Dynal chuckled and sat up.

"Well, this is your victory speci-…Hunter. I will gather the rest of my people and leave this planet forever." Hunter sat up and gave Dynal a sideways look.

"Where will you guys go."

"I do not know." Suddenly, a thought occurred to Hunter. It was beyond stupid, but hey, so is spinax and look how he turned out.

"Why not live on earth?"

"We cannot, were you not listen-"

"I wasn't finished. Why not live on earth with the humans?" Dynal gave him a look like Hunter just asked him to cut off his foot.

"Are you insane? That would….that would….possibly work. But will the humans be accepting of my people?"

"They accept me and I'm a whack job, so why not?"

Dynal stood up and brushed dust off his cloak, "this idea is exciting to say the least. It appears that we won't be leaving earth yet."

"Okay, but one thing first."

"And that would be?"

"You gotta be nicer." Dynal gave him an odd look, wondering if Hunter was joking.

"How are you like this? You are willing to accept an entire race that was at your throat not a moment ago."

"Don't know, maybe I just don't think it would be right for you to give up after trying so hard to find a home." Hunter stood up as well. The two stared at each other with a newfound sense of camaraderie.

"Hunter!" Hunter turned to see Duna running towards him. Before he could react, she jumped on him and hugged him so tight he felt his ribs pop.

"Everything's fine." Hunter reassured her, "it's oka-" Hunter was silenced when Duna brought her lips to his.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here," Spinax had been silent until now.

"Just shut up and let me enjoy this," Hunter grumbled.

"Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe." Dynal cleated his throat and the two pulled apart. Duna glared at Dynal while his expression was one of regret.

"Duna, you understood the Humans far more than I could fathom, but I did not listen to your reasoning. From the very depths of my heart, please accept this apology." Duna's eye's welled up with tears as she embraced Dynal.

"Kinda like a father and daughter," Hunter said to himself.

"Right," spinax agreed, "so we'll have to stay on his good side if you want his blessing."

"Shut up spinax."

"No, I won't shut up. Do you know why? It's because I SAVED THE WORLD!"

"WE saved the world."

"Yeah whatever, Drinks on me tonight!" Hunter chuckled. Finally, everything was at piece. Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in the back of Hunter's skull. He fell to the ground.

"What madness is this?!" Shouted a familiar voice. Hunter heard the scuffle of feet as he got back up. Raptin was standing directly in front of the main idolcomp.

"Dinaurians allying with Human trash? I will not hear of it!" He turned towards the button.

"Raptin, stand down!" Dynal commanded, "this is an order!"

"Apologies my king, but this must be done. Your thoughts have been clouded by this filthy half breed." Hunter and Dynal both tried to run up to raptin, but their knees buckled first. Neither of them was in a good condition to fight. Duna attempted to attack Raptin, but he brought an elbow to her gut and she toppled at his feet.

"And now, our society will be reborn." Hunter shrieked with rage as Raptin pressed the button. He wasn't quite sure what would happen, but Hunter was not prepared for what actually happened.

"This action you speak of cannot be performed," A voice said. It was coming from the green idol.

"The A.I Of the idolcomps." Raptin muttered, "here me idolcomps, Fire your regression rays at earth and right this wrong!"

"We cannot do that." The red idol spoke this time.

"Why?"

"The intelligent seeds of life you Dinaurians planted did not evolve into humans," the blue idol explained, "the seeds of life were eradicated roughly 65 million years ago. Earth's natural evolution took place, giving rise to the humans." Hunter flicked Dynal.

"You are all dumbasses,"

"I see that now," Dynal held his head in his hand, "if I had known…"

"What a bunch of idiots," Spinax huffed.

"Spinax, what major species went extinct about 65 million years ago."

"That would be the….oh crap,"

"Thought so, be nicer to your creators."

"Look who's talking."

"Touché."

"We understood this and asked the Dinaurian known as Xeno to hide us," The yellow idol continued, "however the main idolcomp reached a different conclusion: earth must be purged of all life. By pressing that button, the main idolcomp was able to complete his signal to the monster that is capable of such destruction." Hunter's eyes widened with shock and fear.

"No…no," Dynal collapsed. Duna eye's welled with tears. Raptin simply fainted.

"Guhnash." Hunter screamed with rage as his eye burned. He failed.

He failed his friends.

He failed the human race.

He failed the Dinaurians.

He failed everyone.

And now, everyone is going to die.

Done! Next chapter will be the final chapter of the original fossil fighters story, so look forward to it.

Spinax: why can't we just save the world and leave it at that?

You just wait until champions. Thanks for reading!


	36. Chapter 35

Journey of the soul chapter 35

Remember when I said this would be the last chapter of the fossil fighters arc?...I was wrong. There's gonna be one more.

Hunter: oh, you were wrong? That's never happened before.

Gimme a break. I was excited and stressed. We just reached 4,000 views, our anniversary is coming up, and my birthday was a few days ago.

Hunter: our anniversary is 2 months away, that's not close at all.

Don't care, I'm an old man.

Hunter: wait, you have an actual age and aren't just a figment of my imagination?

…you realize I'm not the first voice to talk in your head right?

Hunter: That's not important, how old are you?

12,456, or 15 in human years.

Hunter: how was your quinceñera?

…I am not a girl.

Hunter: …WHAT

*sigh* I don't own fossil fighters, now get to the part that the people want to read.

Hunter stood in the warehouse of the fossil center with Duna, Dynal, Rosie, Mr. Richmond, and Dr. Diggins, they were all huddled near the teleporter. After some explanations of what has happened, the contemplated the next course of action.

"So we have approximately 5 hours until Guhnash arrives?" Dr. Diggins asked.

"That is what I estimated," Dynal nodded.

"I just got a call from the mainland," Mr. Richmond put his phone down, "they have detected a large mass, multiple times the size of earth, moving toward our planet on their radar. I've told them what it is but they don't believe me." Hunter drove his fist into the side of the teleporter.

"This is all my fault," he moaned helplessly, "I wasn't strong enough."

"This isn't your fault, my boy." Mr. Richmond put a hand on his back, "no one could've predicted that this would happen." Hunter knew this, but that didn't make him feel better.

"C'mon coach," Spinax cheered, "this ain't over yet!"

"Yes it is, how can we possibly stop a planet eating monster? Give me a serious answer." For once, spinax was silent without being told to shut up.

Rosie spoke up, "What if we load a bunch of missiles up and fire them at Guhnash?"

"A meaningless effort," Dynal dismisses the idea, "Guhnash has proven impervious to all of our advanced weaponry. You would Fair no better."

"I've pinpointed Guhnash's location," Dr. Diggins remarked, "I'm doing a Cellular scan now."

"Have you not been listening?" Dynal was noticeably afraid, "there is no way to stop Guhnash. I will load the mother ship with as many human as possible to ensure the survival of your species. I will stay behind if necessary."

"I…will stay as well." Duna agreed. Hunter let a tear flow freely, everyone is suffering because he wasn't strong enough. He could've beaten Dynal faster, he could've stopped Raptin, he could've….

"No."

"What?"

"No, it wasn't your fault," Spinax stated, "it was my fault. I was the one doing the fighting. I wasn't strong enough."

"You don't have to take the blame spinax."

"…I'm sorry Hunter."

"I am too." The despair crushed down on them both. Neither one of them could be their happy selves, their failure stripped that away from Hunter and Spinax.

"Here we go," Dr. Diggins remarked, "it seems that Guhnash's mouth has oxygen inside of it, and there are three…brains inside it's mouth?"

"What? let me see," Dynal rushed over to the computer. Hunter peered over his shoulder to get a look. Guhnash apparently, looked like a giant fish with a big head. On the schematic, there were three blinking dots in it's mouth area.

"I can use these coordinates to divert the teleporter to inside Guhnash's mouth, "Dr. Diggins explained, "if we destroy the brains, that destroys Guhnash." Hunter began to shake a little. Hope, this is what they needed.

"How?" Rosie asked, "we don't have any rockets or guns or anything like that."

"But we do have some serious muscle on our side," The doctor replied.

"This guy is speakin' my language." Spinax commented.

"Vivosaurs," Hunter said out loud, "you want to challenge Guhnash to a fossil battle."

"That's right."

"I'll go." Everyone was caught off guard by this.

"Hunter," Dr. Diggins put his hands on Hunter's shoulders, "there's no guarantee that we can bring you back once you're there."

"No offense doc, but I'm the best fossil fighter we have here. What's my life if it saves literally EVERYONE?" Diggins looked down steadily.

"Alright, I can have the teleporter ready in a half hour. Get your affairs in order before then."

"I will assist," Dynal volunteered. Hunter nodded and started to walk out of the warehouse. He passed Duna.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want to, I have to." He walked out of the warehouse and out to the streets. Vivosaur Island had been completely evacuated yesterday, so he wasn't accompanied by the normal bustle of the people. It was early in the morning and a light mist had just settled down. Hunter sighed as he walked to the hotel. He silently boarded the elevator and went up to his room.

"So, What's our plan coach?" Spinax asked. Hunter sat down at his desk and looked at the picture of him and his parents.

"Y'know, after everything I've been through, you'd think I'd get used to this. But no, I'm still that optimistic kid that thought he would live a carefree life on this island."

"Isn't that why your doing all this?" Spinax lamented, "your helping everyone live in a world without no worries. You've pretty much saved the world twice at this point."

"Igno and Frigi doesn't count, they were doing that for fun."

"You get the point, now come on, let's go kick tail."

"One thing first." Hunter smiled for the first time in a while. He pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and began to write a letter. He wrote about everything; everything about him, his feelings about what he is, and at least one thing he's wanted to say to everyone.

"That's deep man." Spinax commented when Hunter wrote the last line.

"Don't talk like a hippie."

"I'm serious, the ink blotched and seeped deep into the paper."

"…crap." Hunter shrugged and folded up the letter into an envelope. He walked out of his room and back outside. Hunter made his way to the very edge of the docks. A single seagull flew across the horizon. Hunter took a deep breath and did something he's always wanted to do.

"I AM A FOSSIL FIGHTER! HEAR ME ROAR!"

"RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!" Spinax let out a roar that shook the walls of Hunter's brain. They laughed and laughed until Hunter almost fell into the water, then Hunter started to return to the fossil center. He had to push the sliding door open because no one was there to power it. He slowly walked back into the warehouse.

"Ah, you're back." Mr. Richmond gave Hunter a grim smile.

"I'm ready to save the world, third time's the charm right?" Hunter walked over to Dr. Diggins and handed him the letter, "if I don't make it back, make sure everyone here reads this." The doctor seemed confused, but nodded nonetheless.

"Safe travels Hunter."

"Save the sentiment for when I'm back." Hunter knocked his head a couple times, "it'll take a lot more than the cold vacuum of space to put me down." Dr. Diggins smiled.

"Don't you dare die," Rosie warned, "or I'll find your corpse in the middle of space and feed it to denture sharks." Hunter laughed even though if he died, Rosie probably won't be around to collect his corpse. He climbed up onto the teleporter. Diggins began typing on the nearby interface until the big red button began to glow. This was it, humanity's last stand.

"Wait!" Everyone turned to see Duna walk towards the teleporter, "I would like to go as well." Dynal looked like he was about to object, but thought better of it.

"Support would be helpful, perhaps you should go along," Dynal considered thoughtfully.

"That could work," Dr. Diggins added.

"No," Everyone turned to look at Hunter, "you said there was no guarantee I could come back right? Then that means the less people going, the less people are at risk." He pulled a V-raptor dino medal out of his Holder and studied it.

"Hunter, please reconsider," Duna has a sense of desperation about her, "I can hel-" Hunter pelted the Dino medal at the red button. The medal slammed on top of it and orange rings surrounded Hunter.

"Sorry," Hunter said quickly as he began to fade, "see ya later!" We waved goodbye to the crowd of shocked faces. Then, he was moving through darkness."

"Real brave thing ya did back there," Spinax commented, "I wonder if you'd be singing a different tune If Duna hadn't volunteered."

"Okay, so maybe I didn't want her, or anyone else, to get hurt."

"Whatever you say Turtle dove."

"Did you really have to make a joke before a fight for the fate of the world?"

"Have you not been paying attention? Jokes are kinda my whole shtick." Hunter rolled his eyes. A second later, he was in a massive dome area. It was so big he couldn't see the other side even though there was nothing obscuring the view. Suddenly, something whipped passed Hunter. He quickly looked behind him to see a jagged row of mountains in the distance below a starry sky. No, those were Guhnash's teeth and space behind them.

"Incoming!" Spinax yelled. Hunter ducked as something huge zipped overhead, followed by two more. Hunter stood up and turned to se the brains of Guhnash.

Three giant heads, and one had devil horns.

"Did we just skip Guhnash and go straight to hell?" Spinax whined. That was all the time they had to converse before the devil horned one charged again. Hunter ran to the side and dodged attacks long enough to com up with names: Guhvorn, Guhlith, and Guhweep. The entire time Guhvorn roared, it sound like an evil cackle.

"SPINAX! DELTA! S-RAPTOR! LETS GO!"

And the third battle for the fate of the earth began.

"Trinity Burst!" Hunter's three vivosaurs pulled no punches, firing their team skills right away. It looked like a direct hit until Guhlith got in the way of the attack and took the full force of it. Despite that, it was unfazed.

"S-fury!" S-Raptor unleashed a string of fiery slashes and kicks onto Guhlith. Still, no visible damage was taken. Guhvorn grabbed S-raptor in its jaws and bit down, taking half his health in a single blow.

"Blitz attack, then follow up with spinax combo!" Delta shot at Guhvorn like a jet of water, knocking S-raptor out of its clutches. Spinax followed up with a bite and hip check that sent Guhvorn reeling backwards. Guhweep began to make strange noises.

"Cyclone!" Spinax fired a tornado at Guhweep. It swerved around the head and came back to hit spinax.

"Friendly fire!" Spinax roared. He charged at Guhweep and lashed out with his jaws, but Guhlith got in the way again and took the hit like it was nothing.

"Trinity burst again!" Hunter's vivosaurs unleashed another furious blast, this time it was directed at Guhlith. This left only a small amount of noticeable damage, but it was enough to keep spirits up. Guhvorn lunged at delta, but delta jumped above and rocketed downward to deliver a headbutt. S-Raptor shot a stream of fire at Guhlith, who started its strange song again. Once again, the attack curved around and S-raptor was forced to dodge its own fire.

"Now!" Hunter held up the miraculous fossil rock piece, spinax roared as the shadow of giga spinax appeared over him.

"Remember, you can't use this power for long without running out of steam," Hunter warned, "turn it off if it's too much." Spinax grunted in acknowledgment.

"Cyclonic breath!" Spinax let loose a raging blast at Guhweep while S-raptor has it distracted. The floating head took a direct hit from the blast and was sent spiraling upwards. Giga spinax turned to face the other two brains.

"Spinax mega!" Spinax started towards Guhvorn. As expected, Guhlith got in the way. The brain cackled as it took the full force of spinax's attack, but it didn't expect to be grabbed. Spinax latched his shadow's claws onto Guhlith and rocketed towards Guhvorn, who was trying to eat Delta. Spinax slammed the two brains together and Delta followed up with a blitz attack, sending the two towards S-raptor and Guhweep.

"We got em cornered. Trinity burst once more!" Summoning the last of their power and supported by giga spinax, Hunter's fired one last cascade of lasers at the three brains. Smoke clouded where the three brains were. Hunter wiped sweat off his brow. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him. Orange rings began rising up from a spot on the floor. Seconds later, Duna appeared.

"Duna?" Hunter eye's widened, "How did yo-" Duna slapped Hunter so hard he spun for couple seconds before she grabbed his shoulders to stop him. Duna began to furiously shake him.

"You idiot! I had the teleporter that you need to get home and you leave without it you moron!" Hunter was taken aback by how angry Duna was and silently cursed himself for forgetting the teleporter he needed to get home.

"Well, it's fine now right?" Hunter smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head. Duna was about to scold him again when Guhvorn shot out of the smoke and collided with spinax.

"Damn devil horned brain!" Spinax growled and threw Guhvorn into the air.

"Cyclonic breath!" Spinax let loose a laser that sent Guhvorn up even further. Duna transformed into her dinosaur form and helped Delta and s-raptor to hold back Guhlith and Guhweep.

"Up! Follow it!" Spinax launched himself as high as he could and used tornadoes to shoot up to Guhvorn's level.

"Spinax mega!" Spinax and giga spinax Both roared as they brought a combined fist down on Guhvorn. They both crashed to the ground. Delta and Duna circled Guhlith, firing jets of water. S-raptor Locked its jaws onto the side of Guhweep and held it still while it charged up a fire breath. A small scale explosion surrounded the two. Spinax dodged multiple stabs from Guhvorn. Hunter could see that he was tiring from the burden of giga spinax.

"Cyclonic rage!" Spinax began to glow green, "Everyone, cover spinax!" S-Raptor kicked Guhweep away, doing no noticeable damage but still kept it away from spinax. Guhlith kept advancing despite receiving multiple direct attacks from both Delta and Duna. Guhvorn was still trapped under spinax's bulk.

"I can't hold them off for long," Hunter remarked.

"Let them advance, I'm optimal at a close proximity." Spinax sneered.

"Stop using big words to sound smart." Hunter's vivosaurs And Duna back off once he conveyed the message. The two brains were practically on top of spinax when he went off. An earth shattering explosion shook the ground as spinax unleashed the pent up energy. Spinax emerged from the smoke cloud burned and bruised, giga spinax was gone. When the smoke cleared. Guhweep was a smoking pile on the floor.

But Guhlith and Guhvorn were still up, and they looked angry as hell.

"…shit." Hunter and spinax said in unison. Guhvorn and Guhlith fired a cascade of blasts devoid of all cover. Out of energy, Hunter's team was forced to take the full force of the lasers. Duna weeded through the blasts and climbed up onto Guhlith, biting down with rows of dagger teeth. Guhlith shrieked, noticeably injured, but Guhvorn grabbed Duna and threw her across to the other vivosaurs. Spinax charged, but in his drained state, he collapsed after knocking Guhvorn away. Guhvorn began to charge a large blast, cackling with laughter. S-raptor grabbed onto the horn of Guhvorn and tried to yank it away from spinax, Delta assisted and they managed to redirect the laser beam into the air. Guhlith slammed into Delta while surrounded with black energy. Guhvorn grabbed S-raptor and crunched down. Both of Hunter's vivosaurs returned to their dino medals as Guhvorn and Guhlith began to close in on an exhausted Spinax.

"So this is how it ends," Spinax muttered, "at the mercy of an alien. Why does this seem oddly familiar?"

"We can't give up yet!" Hunter yelled hopelessly, "we….we can't…" He fell to his knees.

"Why, why? Every time I try to do something right, I fail. Master fighter my ass, I can't even keep my friends safe." Hunter let tears roll down his face as Guhvorn cackled loudly. Suddenly, Guhvorn was quickly silenced with a headbutt from spinax. He moved in front of Duna, knocking away Guhlith as well.

"Bring it on, ya piece of satan's shit! I ain't scared of you!" Spinax let out a earth shaking roar.

"Why are you still fighting?" Hunter could see spinax struggling just to stand, "we lost. We failed."

"SHUT UP HUNTER!" Spinax roared. Hunter froze. Spinax…he's still going to fight. He's going to fight until he dies. Hunter stood up, this isn't over yet. His right eye began burning with so much pain that Hunter screamed. He felt something.

He felt…..whole. Like he had a soul. He could picture it now.

Specimen X. Soul: returned.

Duna, now back in her human form, slowly got up. She ignored the pain and looked around. Spinax was dueling with both brains of Guhnash at once. Suddenly, she heard a yell and spinax began to roar as well. She watched as the shadow of giga spinax appeared over him. Both vivosaurs became surrounded by light and when the light dispersed, Giga spinax was the only vivosaur there. He had a strange blue tint to his crystal color though. Duna looked over to the source of the yell and gasped at what she saw.

Wind whipped in a circle around Hunter, creating a small tornado around him. Small flames danced around on the floor. The tears from his left eye were carried up by the tornado. And his right eye….

His eye was surrounded by a brilliant Blue flame that burned out to the right. The Fire Of His Soul.

(The Journey will Conclude Next Chapter.)


	37. Chapter 36

Journey of the soul FINALE (not really)

Let's just get right to the action, shall we?

Hunter yelled for so long that he thought his lungs were going to burst. He was vaguely aware of the burning sensation in his eye not hurting anymore, but that was overshadowed by the pure flood of energy and emotion running through his body. Hope, Anger, Fear, Despair, Happiness; he felt all these emotions at once. He could see Spinax transforming into Giga spinax, permanently, but that meant little too him right now. The shout ended and Hunter looked around. Small flames flickered in the ground around him, and he could feel a slight breeze running through his hair. The once overwhelming sense of despair was washed away by a surge of energy. Hunter felt powerful.

He felt strong enough to save the world.

"You look badass," Spinax acknowledged.

"What do I look like?" Hunter struggled to speak, he was still getting accustomed to having a soul. Spinax sent him a mental image. Hunter's jaw nearly dropped. His hair tilted slightly upward, but that was barely noticeable. He also had a FLAMING EYEBALL!

"Huh, that's new. By the way, aren't your crystal's supposed to be green and not turquoise?"

"Isn't Fire supposed to be red and not dark blue?" Spinax retorted. Hunter put a hand to the blue fire surrounding his eye. It didn't feel like anything was there, yet, it was.

Suddenly, Guhvorn rushed at Spinax, cackling wildly. Hunter felt an instinctual rush through his brain and immediately knew what attack to call out.

"Soulfire!" Spinax released a massive jet of blue flames from his mouth, sending Guhvorn flying backwards.

"Holy," Hunter started.

"Crap," Spinax finished.

"Hunter!" Hunter turned to see Duna calling to him, "I know you are confused, but now is the time to fight!" She was badly injured and in no condition to help. Hunter nodded. Whatever was happening to him, it was making him and spinax stronger. This is the strength that they needed.

"Spinax mega!" Spinax roared as he brought his fist down on Guhlith, sending the brain reeling backwards.

"Spinax Giga!" Hunter yelled for a follow up.

"What's a Giga?" Spinax asked. Guhvorn used the opportunity to try and dig its horns into spinax's back. Sparks flew as Guhvorn's horns bounced off of Spinax's new crystal hide.

"You know what? I think I like being blue." Spinax grabbed one of Guhvorn's horn and threw it into the air. Spinax launched himself into the air as well and punched Guhvorn between the eyes, sending the brain rocketing backwards into the wall.

"Soulfire once more!" Spinax let out a stream of flames at Guhlith to keep the two brains apart. Meanwhile, Duna limped her way over to Hunter.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Y-yeah…..I-I think so," Hunter struggled to talk aloud. The surge of energy coursing through his veins made it difficult for him to think about anything else but the fight.

"Do you feel okay," She put a hand to the edge of his eye. The flames didn't burn her either, "I do not know much about human souls, but this cannot be normal."

"I've N-never been N-normal, but I c-can use this." Duna nodded and took a step back. Hunter turned to spinax, who was holding up Guhlith and breathing blue fire into its mouth.

"Spinax! Let's end this!" Guhvorn fired a colorless bean at spinax, who used shear wind pressure to slice the laser in half with his tail. The two beams flew to the sides of spinax and exploded behind him. Spinax roared and threw Guhlith at Guhvorn. The ground began to shake as Hunter felt the ground slant upwards. No, not the ground, Guhnash's tongue. Hunter looked to spinax, who grunted in acknowledgment.

"Up!" Spinax shot into the air. If Guhvorn or Guhlith floated to close, spinax would send them crashing down with a cascade of flames.

"What'd you want to call this one? Spinax asked as the tornadoes expelling from his feet disappeared.

"Falling Star!" Hunter shouted. As spinax descended, blue flames surrounded him. Spinax crashed to earth, flattening Guhnash's tongue and severely rattling the remaining brains. Guhvorn and Guhlith Both shrieked in pain.

"Can the brains feel Guhnash's pain?" He asked himself. Before Guhlith could react, Spinax grabbed the brain and bit down on it like a jawbreaker.

"One question." Spinax said.

"What is it?"

"Wanna see something cool?" Guhlith shattered in spinax's jaws. Guhvorn began to shriek wildly. The brain fired off multiple lasers in all directions. Spinax held up an arm to block the shots that came his way. Guhvorn flew up to spinax and bit down on his arm.

"Damn space head!" Spinax growled, "get off my arm!...wow, I did not expect to say that today."

"Spinax Mega on the ground!" Spinax pulled his fist back and slammed Guhvorn to the ground. Guhnash's crimson blood spurred upward from its tongue. Guhnash shrieked in pain. Hunter grunted as he took a step forward. Duna looked at him with concern in her eyes. With shaking hands, Hunter grabbed the handle of his foldax. Guhvorn broke free from Spinax and slashed at his underbelly with his horn. Spinax roared with rage as Guhnash evaded a stream of blue fire while cackling. Hunter swung his foldax into the ground. The action was enough to make Guhvorn flinch, which spinax used to land a punch on one of Guhvorn's horns. The horn snapped off and Guhvorn shrieked again. Spinax shoved his claw up Guhvorn's mouth.

"Okay, what now?" Spinax asked.

"What do you mean "what now?" That was your idea."

"Now it's your turn for an idea. Hurry up, he's chewing on my arm."

"Uh…cyclonic rage?"

"Works for me." Spinax began to glow a deep blue color.

"Needs a new name."

"Raging Soul!" Hunter yelled. Spinax set off a massive explosion that erupted into a towering pillar of blue fire. Duna had to look away from the blaze, but Hunter, in his ascended state, was able to see Guhvorn disintegrate. As the flames faded, spinax's crystals changed to the expected green color and the flames faded from Hunter's eye. He nearly collapsed but caught himself before he fell.

"We….we won." He muttered. He held up a fist and spinax roared in triumph before returning to a medal.

"We did it." Duna breathed. Hunter walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"We did it!" Duna exclaimed. Laughing, she jumped for joy before blushing and acting like it never happened. Suddenly, everything began to shake.

"Goodbye leg control," Hunter stated as he fell over.

"Guhnash is dying," Duna pressed some buttons on her pendant, "we need to leave." Hunter got up and moved next to Duna. Orange rings began to surround them…..and then disappeared.

"Hmm. Seems that we cannot teleport away." Hunter was alright with that. He was fully prepared to die. He had a soul now, he needs nothing else from life.

"You got a plan B?" Hunter asked. Duna pulled out a small box-like machine.

"This is a stone sleep device. We shall be put in stone sleep and then King Dynal will come and find us with the mothership." Hunter nodded.

"Alright, let's get the hell outta here."

"We…uh…need to hold hands in order to stay together in stone sleep." Duna cheeks flooded with color.

"Okay," normally, Hunter would be more lively. But fatigue and numbness had washed over him. He grabbed Duna's hand and closed his eyes.

"We will see each other soon Hunter."

"Yeah." Duna pressed the button on the stone sleep device.

"Hehehehehehehehehehehehe."

"Shut up Spinax." Hunter felt himself drift off. A sense of security surrounded him as Hunter was encased in stone with Duna. His last thought before he fell asleep was, "Did I leave the fridge door open?"

….…

…"revival sequence successful, commencing revival." Hunter yawned as the first voice to greet him was digital. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around….he immediately regretted this decision as his eyes began to burn from the light.

"REVIVAL MACHINE ALMIGHTY! TURN THE LIGHTS DOWN!" The lights did not turn off. Instead, Hunter felt himself being hugged by multiple people. Eventually, his eyes adjusted and Hunter could see Dr. Diggins, Mr. Richmond, And Rosie.

"So, how does it feel to be on the other side of the revival machine?" Diggins asked.

"Feels like a really bad trip to the dentist." Hunter wiped dust particles from his eyebrows, "did anyone go to my hotel room?"

"Oh yeah, you left the refrigerator door open."

"Damn it!" Hunter looked down at spinax's dino medal. The image had changed to Giga Spinax.

"So…I'm stuck like this?" spinax asked

"Pretty much, do you not like it?"

"…..I have hands now." Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Get over it. We saved the world, for good this time."

"Oh yeah, we did do that. Good work team." Spinax was obviously drained, or he would be more excited.

"WE SAVED THE WORLD!" Spinax suddenly screamed, Hunter fell over in shock as spinax laughed, "flawless victory!"

"You okay, my boy?" Mr. Richmond helped Hunter up.

"Yeah, just getting used to walking again," Hunter lied quickly. He looked around again and noticed that something was wrong.

"Where's Duna? And Dynal too?" At this, everyone grew silent.

"Well you see," Dr. Diggins started, "Interference made the stone sleep device malfun-"

"Spit it out doc,"

"…..we weren't able to revive Duna. She is trapped in stone sleep forever." The words crushed down on Hunter like a box of bricks. He didn't save everyone. He got his soul back only to have it crushed by the fact that he still isn't strong enough to save everyone.

"If you want to see them," Rosie chimed in, "You should go to the park area. Dynal said he would leave her there before the Dinaurians left earth." Hunter nodded and bolted out the door. His legs felt like they might give out at any moment, but that didn't matter. Spinax was silent, and that was probably for the best. He ran across the pavement. On the horizon, he could see ships bringing back the residents of Vivosaur Island. They were lucky, they didn't have to lose anyone.

Hunter made it to the park area and found them under the fossil of the tyrannosaurus. Dynal had his back turned to Hunter and was looking at Duna, perfectly encased in stone. Hunter walked up next to Dynal. The two stood in silence for a while.

"I assume you already know what happened?" Dynal asked. Hunter nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"Do not be. It was not your doing. I will scour the galaxy until I find a cure for her." He walked up to Duna and put a hand on her stone shoulder. Hunter saw a single tear roll down his face.

"Goodbye Hunter. If I do find a cure and return, I will take your offer to live on earth." Hunter nodded solemnly. Orange rings surrounded Dynal.

"Wait!" A voice shouted. The rings around Dynal disappeared.

"I know that voice," Spinax commented, "….Nonononononononononono." Sure enough, the digadig chieftain was walking towards them.

"I have receivediga a prophecy from the fossil godigadig," The Chief explained, "it may help with your predigament."

"…..excuse me?" Dynal raised one eyebrow.

"He got a message from god that might help." Hunter translated.

"You understand him?"

"I TOLERATE him."

"Yes, very important prophecy," The chief nodded, "I will recite it digadig," He began to talk in a low voice, "the power of a burning soul will awaken the daughter of a far away star." Hunter looked down at his feet while Dynal simply scoffed.

"Your words of nonsense are better off elsewhere. There is no "burning soul" here."

"Yeah there is." Hunter took a deep breath. He walked over to Dina and put a hand on her shoulder. It was cold to the touch.

"You sure we can do this?" Spinax asked. There was no humor in his voice.

"No, but I'm still gonna try." Hunter thought about his own soul. How much it means to him and how it burns brightly inside him. He focused on that pure surge of power when it returned to him.

"What in the name of-" Hunter heard Dynal gasp and the chieftain laugh. Hunter put a hand to his eye. Sure enough, a tingling sensation told him that he had undergone the same transformation from earlier. Hunter concentrated the flow of energy towards Duna, which was difficult because it automatically started to go to spinax.

"I can't help it if it likes me more." Spinax protested.

"Then YOU take it and give it to Duna." Spinax snorted, but complied with Hunter's request. Duna began to glow until the light was so bright that Hunter had to look away. When the blinding flash faded, Duna was standing there with her eyes closed. The stone shell had completely disappeared.

"Hell yeah." Hunter smiled before he went back to normal. He almost fell over from the amount of energy he used up.

"Do you need to go to the EZ?" Spinax asked, "that gives ya two turns to rest." For once, Hunter laughed at spinax's joke. Dynal was about to ask a question, but was silenced when Duna slowly opened her eyes. She nearly fell over, but Hunter grabbed her shoulders and held her up.

"Morning, ya lazy bum," Hunter smiled, "what made you think I'd let you sleep past noon?"

"….Hunter?" Duna looked up at him with tired eyes, "….was I just now awoken from stone sleep?" Dynal began to laugh out of joy.

"Thank the stars!" He ran over and hugged Duna tightly. Hunter took a couple steps back.

"Soulflame," Spinax stated.

"Huh?"

"That's what we're gonna call your transformation, Soulflame."

"Little on the nose isn't it?"

"It was either that or Super Soul."

"…Soulflame's fine." Hunter looked up at the sky.

"Y'know what?" He said aloud. Duna and Dynal turned to look at him, "I really need a nap." Dynal raised an eyebrow when Duna chuckled.

(3 Days later)

(Cross: Don't you think it's weird that people don't talk about Guhnash in other fossil fighter games?)

The entire world has heard Hunter's story. Millions of people were cowering in fear when it was revealed that a creature around the size of the sun was going to devour earth. When news crews showed Hunter's picture in the news along with the headline "Guhnash destroyed by earth's young savior", the world lit up with fireworks. The celebration was still going strong on Vivosaur Island. Everyone was out on the streets either dancing or shooting off fireworks. Hunter dodged three kids chasing each other with fire crackers.

"They are going to kill each other," Spinax commented.

"Most likely," Hunter agreed.

"So, What's our game plan coach?" Spinax asked, "dancing? Shooting Chinese missiles? Maybe a secret meeting with that special someone?"

"We're gonna hide until this whole thing settles down," Hunter sauntered over to the Richmond building, "I don't wanna get recognized."

"….your picture is on the freakin' news,"

"How'd they even get that anyway?" Hunter waves to Mr. Richmond, who was talking to some important official about recent events. He went through the rest of the guild area and continued walking. Eventually, he stopped near the secret dock in the park area.

"Y'know, I always end up here whenever something happens," Hunter told spinax, "it's where I told you about my past, it's where I went to go rescue Rosie, it's where I learned Duna was an alien."

"It's where you kissed Duna." Spinax finished for him.

"I could do without your constant need to govern my love life."

"…."

"Finally run out of things to say?"

"…..you said love….."

"….crap."

"YOU. LOVE. DUNA." Spinax nearly yelled for the whole world to hear.

"Spinax, knock it off!"

"You didn't deny it either! Hahahahahaha…behind you." Hunter turned. Duna was on the other side of the railing.

"Was I interrupting anything?" She asked.

"Uh…no." Hunter silently thanked the revival machine that Duna could only sense their conversation and not hear it, "I was just looking at the stars. So, what are you doing here? I thought all the Dinaurians were on the ship getting a pep talk about humans."

"I was not required to go, so I came here to see how humans celebrate happy occasions," Hunter took a quick note that they were slowly edging towards each other, "it seems that it is nothing similar to Dinaurian celebrations."

"Well, this is just one type of celebration." Hunter was so close to her that he could count her eyelashes," there's also stuff like banquets and weddings."

"What is a wedding?"

"…it's to celebrate two humans getting married."

"Humans have marriage celebrations as well?"

"Yeah, is it any different for Dinaurians?"

"We select who is to be tied together by Their genetic compatibility."

"Oh, for humans it's two people that love each other."

"…I see. I think I would like to try that some day."

"Really? Well, you'd have to find someone who lov-" Duna leaned in and kissed Hunter. His eyes widened before he realized what Duna meant when she started to talk about love. He pulled her closer and they kissed as the fireworks went off. Spinax was laughing the entire time.

Done! for good, that's the end, no more, It's all over. That's all folks!

Hunter: don't be like that. Everyone knows you're gonna make more chapters.

….what if I want to build suspense?

Spinax: then do what you usually do and wait to make the next chapter. Just procrastinate on purpose this time.

Hahahahahahaha….I hate you both.

Hunter: that's why people like us.

Funny how that works. Question of the day: what was your favorite chapter in the series so far? It sure has been a fun time writing this story, and I'm not even halfway done. Thanks for Reading!


	38. Chapter 37

Journey of the soul chapter 37

Jesus, look at that big number! We've racked up quite a few chapters.

Hunter: ….only you could get excited by a number.

I am excited. Because now, I can be a little creative with the story.

Hunter: whatever you do, I'm sure it'll be terrible.

Y'know you're being more of a pillock than usual. Is this because you aren't in this chapter?

Hunter:….my picture is the cover art of the story and I'm not even in this chapter…

Get over it ya big baby. I don't own fossil fighters and I'm okay with that, so you should be okay with this.

Hunter: I'm leaving

The world is a mysterious place, filled with many stories. And with these stories, many perspectives as well. This story has seen only one perspective, but that will change when fates overlap.

Not far from Vivosaur island is an archipelago called the Caliosteo islands. They are renowned for hosting some of the fiercest Vivosaur tournaments in the world. Outside the famous Wildwest tower where these battles are held, a little girl, no more than 7, is running across the pavement of Cranial island.

Lila's sandals flapped up and down as she ran towards the fossil guild. Her blonde hair whipped across her face and Her coin pouch jingled like a set of keys at her hip. Today was the day, she would finally get her vivosaur and be a fossil fighter. Lila dreamed of being a fossil fighter ever since she saw a vivosaur on her nana's tv screen.

"Look at that nana!" She squealed with delight, "a dragon!" Once her grandmother explained what a vivosaur was, Lila wanted nothing more than her own vivosaur. And after 6 months of cleaning plates and sweeping floors for an allowance, she had saved up the 4000 G needed for a fossil rock.

"Hey kid!" Lila was about to enter the door to the guild when she turned towards the voice. There were two men leaning against the wall. One was smoking a cigar while the other glared at anyone who came too close.

"Where's your parents?" The man with the cigar asked.

"Don't got any," Lila said curtly, not bothering to try and sound like a city person, she and her nana used to live out in the countryside of Vivosaur island before they moved here.

"Don't get lost." The man muttered. Lila went into the guild area while giving the two men a strange look.

The guild area was so huge even the map dwarfed Lila in size. Still, she knew the way to the fossil shop by heart. She sat on the step of the escalator as it carried her up, getting strange looks along the way. She entered through the door of the fossil shop and walked over to the counter, trying to conceal the excitement bubbling up in her stomach.

"Look who's back again!" The shopkeep said happily, "come to browse for new arrivals Lila?" He pointed at a large rock on a shelf behind a glass wall, "we just got a brachiosaurus leg in the latest shipment."

"I'm here to buy," Lila couldn't help but smile when she pulled out her coin pouch.

"Finally got enough G have you?. In that case, you'll be wanting to look over there." He pointed to the shelf on the other side of the room. Lila noticed that the fossils on the shelf were a bit small than everything else, but she didn't mind. Lila looked at the images of the dinosaur in the fossil displayed on a small tv in front of it. Velociraptor, deinonychus, pachycephhlosaurus. She stared at the images until she found it. A small brown raptor-like dinosaur.

"Compsug…compsag." Lila struggled to pronounce the name.

"Compsognathus," The shopkeep told her, "great support vivosaur. You may want to look elsewhere though, Compso isn't exactly a good starting Vivosaur.

"I want this one," Lila pointes at the compsognathus fossil, "this one will be my vivosaur."

"You sure?"

"Double sure."

"Alright," The shopkeep shrugged and unlock the glass pane keeping Lila from her vivosaur. She cradled the fossil like a baby before paying the shopkeep 4000G. She left with a massive smile on her face.

"Wait till nana sees this!" Lila nearly skipped with excitement as she made her way down to the doorway out of the guild. She was about to walk out when a hand fell on her shoulder.

"Where ya going with that, kid?" It was the two men from earlier. Lila nearly choked on cigar smoke when she turned to look at them.

"That's a nice fossil ya got there," the second man grinned, "betcha it'd be a pretty good vivosaur to have for the caliosteo cup." Lila nervously shifted away from the men. As a matter of fact, she WAS planning to enter the caliosteo cup with her Vivosaur. She wanted to earn some prize money to help out nana.

"You can't have my Vivosaur." Lila held the rock protectively.

"Oh? But it's not your vivosaur." The man sneered as he stretched his hand out for the fossil," whoever revived it gets to own it. And if you don't want trouble, you better give me MY Vivosaur." Lila seizes the opportunity and bit the man's hand. She ran as he yelped in pain.

"Damn brat! Get back here!" She heard footsteps chasing her, but Lila didn't stop. She ran outside and down multiple flights of stairs. Unfortunately, the stairs led to a dead end with a machine big enough for multiple people to fit inside. The sign next to the machine said this: Mt. Krakanak. Lila walked inside the machine and looked around. Suddenly, the floor of the machine began to glow.

"There you are!" Lila turned to see the two men stalking towards her. She closed her eyes and yelled.

"You better stay away from me and my Vivosaur!"

"I would hope that I would stay away, you sound very scary." Lila opened her eyes, but she was in a completely different place. An old rock path led

to a volcano in the distance. This was Mount Krakanak. It was supposed to be ten miles from the city and yet, Lila was standing on it.

"First time teleporting?" The voice belonged to an old man. He had a long white beard and was wearing a black cloak that co ceased his arms. Underneath, Lila could see a plain white shirt and a pair of brown pants.

"I was just…." Lila started to say.

"I understand," the old man leaned back from where he was sitting and showcased a pair of sunglasses, "Sure is hit tonight."

"It's morning."

"Is it?" The old man laughed, "well, I suppose you would be able to tell. For a blind man like me, that's a little more difficult."

"What's a blind?" The old man laughed again as Lila sat down next to him."

"It means I can't see," he explained, "Now Lila, why don't you tell me what you're doing all the way out here?" Lila shifted backwards, cradling her fossil.

"How do you know my name?"

"Let's just say that I'm acquainted with your grandmother."

"You know nana?"

"We've met in the past. In fact, I've met you in the past two, but you wouldn't remember."

"Gotcha ya little brat," Lila felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. It was the man with the cigar, "how about ya give back that fossil ya stole."

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, good fellow," The old man spoke up, "she purchased that fossil with her own money."

"Stay out of this geezer."

"Geezer?" The old man laughed as he reached into his coat pocket. Lila stared as he pulled out a Dino medal, "Don't you think there are better ways to solve an argument?" The cigar man sneered.

"You're in for a world of hurt old timer. Metria!" The man sent out a large green vivosaur similar to spinosaurus.

"Lila, please get behind me and stay back."

"Can't I help?" Lila asked, "this guy needs a whuppin'" The man laughed again and handed Lila a hammer and drill.

"You can get your first vivosaur, that would help," He turned to face down Metria, "Allo, teach them to respect their elderly," The man simply dropped the medal and let it roll. A bright light surrounded the medal as a blue allosaurus sprouted from it. Allo snarled, showcasing large teeth.

"Green fang!" Metria bit down on Allo over and over again, who seemed unfazed. Meanwhile, Lila gasped when she cracked the jaw of the fossil a little.

"Don't reply too much on the hammer," the old man advised, "the drill is there for removing rock from the more delicate sections of the fossil.

"Hey geezer! You should pay more attention to what's right in front of ya!" Metria roared as it kicked Allo in the chin.

"Of course," The man grinned, "Allo, show this man the mistake he made." With one swift motion, Allo whipped around and sent Metria flying with its tail. The cigar man stood there, stunned.

"I believe this is the part where you run away," The old man smiled. Allo growled and the cigar fell out of the man's mouth. He bolted back to the teleporter when Allo took a step forward.

"I did it!" Lila looked down at her fossil. It was a slim skull about as long as her arm. Small rows of teeth lined the jaws.

"Excellent," the old man clapped, "Now, before you go and revive that fossil, can you take me to see your grandmother? She and I have a lot of catching up to do."

"Okay, but what's your name?" Lila asked, "you already know mine, so you should tell me yours."

"You May call me Alvis."

Miles away from Cranial island, on the mainland, there is a small neighborhood that holds one of the most infamous urban legends in the area. Almost everyone you ask there knows the story of a young couple who found a child in the woods in the small town of Mason. This kid grew up to murder that same couple seven years later only to disappear as mysteriously as he appeared. But, the house still remained. Kids would dare each other to get as close to the house as possible to see if the "Mason maniac" was locked up in the basement. Of course, they were all shooed away by the current resident of the house.

"Go on, get out of here!" Samuel Cloud waved a shovel at a bunch of snickering kids as they ran away, "buncha' hooligans." Samuel hated kids. He had ever since one had taken his brother's life. He walked down to the mailbox and looked at the paint marks that the kids sprayed on it. The word "creep" had been written in large purple streaks of paint. Samuel sprayed down the mailbox with a hose before returning inside.

"Recent developments on the newest residents of Vivosaur island, the Dinaurians," The news blared as Samuel sat down and tried to resume his nap. Recent developments had been hard on him. Hell, last week he was in an emergency shelter with hundreds of others awaiting the destruction of earth.

"The Dinaurians are a race similar to humans, yet their reptilian ancestry can be traced back to the Dinosaurs." A scientist went on about the alien species that had appeared on earth. Apparently, these guys showed up to warn the earth about a 27,000 mile long planet eater coming for dinner. (Cross: at least, that's the story Dr. Diggins and Hunter fed the media to keep the Dinaurians from being shot at.)

"In other news concerning the world's near death experience, Vivosaur island is expected to be open to the public again within the week." Samuel yawned and looked over at the one picture he kept in the house. It was of Dexter and Lily. There was a small whited out space between them in the photo. This was the only photo Samuel had of his departed brother and sister in-law. He wondered what they would think of all this.

"He was shown to have a broken rib and a dislocated shoulder. The stunning recovery of Hunter Cloud is inhuman. The again, he saved the world so-" Samuel's hands shook as he paused the television. The words froze on the headline: Hunter Cloud. Hunter CLOUD. Samuel stared at the picture of the boy projected by the tv. A teenager with dark blue eyes and unkept hair held up by a visor. Samuel grabbed the picture off the mantel and, not wanting to waste time, broke the frame. He grabbed the edge of the whited out space and ripped the cover away.

There was a small boy in the photo with dark blue eyes and shaggy hair.

"Found ya, you little bastard." Hands shaking, Samuel grabbed his phone and dialed the number for the police.

Done! This chapter is a little different, but I thought it turned out alright.

Hunter: I'm back, did you finish the chapter?

Yep, and you can't read it.

Hunter: why not?

Because you haven't even read half the story yet.

Hunter: yes I have!

Okay then, who's Dynal

Hunter: isn't that a diet pill?

Thought so. Thanks for reading!


	39. Chapter 38

Journey of the soul chapter 38

Look Hunter, you're in this chapter. Happy now?

Hunter:…yes

I'm sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over your pride.

Hunter: just get to the stupid chapter

Thought so, enjoy the chapter! I know Hunter will!

Hunter: wait, what's that supposed to mean?

"Hey Spinax?"

"What's up?"

"We're on a tropical island, right?"

"Last time I checked."

"Then…why…is it….so Freakin…C-C-COLD!?" Hunter shivered as the wind whipped across his face, "seriously, this place is two miles from the equator and there's a glacier island to the south!?"

"Eh, you're just not used to the cold."

"Ya think?"

"I told you just a jacket and a scarf wouldn't be enough."

"I didn't realize that the boat would take me to the ARCTIC!"

"Then you truly are a foolish mortal. Mwhahahahahahaha!"

"Oh, get over yourself." Hunter pulled his jacket tighter around himself and rolled his scarf around his neck until it covered his mouth. For becoming a master fighter, Hunter gained access to two new dig sites: Coldfeet Glacier and Parchment Desert. Only master fighters are allowed in, which is great because it means Hunter is pretty much the only one there. Parchment desert messes with his sonar, so he stopped going there. Aside from the occasional meeting with Saurhead (which always involved a lot of roaring), he was free to roam alone and find new fossil. Which was especially great today because he wanted to spend as much time away from his hotel room as possible.

"You think that maybe you kinda overreacted?" Spinax asked when he realized that Hunter was thinking about what happened in the morning. Hunter was sitting on the couch, book in one hand, mp3 in the other when he got a knock on his door.

"Excuse me Hunter," the manager's voice said from the other side of the door, "I am here to inform that there is a person waiting in the lobby who will be your roommate." Hunter sprang off the couch and jumped out the window before the manager could open the door. He fell ten feet and rolled when he hit the ground. He kept running until he reached the docks, where he jumped into the water to chase down the boat that just left. Captain travers gave him a towel and a raised eyebrow, but agreed to let him ride to Coldfeet glacier as long as he gave the captain a good word to Dr. Diggins.

"I didn't overreact, I escaped a situation."

"You broke the window,"

"I'll fix the window."

"You nearly got fixed by a shard of glass."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"You don't have to, I'm doing it for you."

"Shut up Spinax." Hunter flipped the blades out on his foldax and dug it into the ice. It cracked up, revealing a fossil rock with specks of ice on it. Hunter picked it up and shivered as it slid into his backpack.

"I am really considering activating Soulflame just to warm up."

"You can do it on command now?" Spinax sent a mental image of a raised eyebrow.

"Well…not exactly." Hunter's mysterious new power is difficult to control. Dr. Diggins made him take some tests to see what happens to his body when his eye is surrounded by blue flames. Hunter finally got his soul back, and the rush of it returning allowed him to magnify his power. This was transferred to Spinax during the fight with Guhnash. However, it's been a challenged just to push his soul to that raging state. Hunter had to get an adrenaline rush before he could activate Soulflame, and even then he could only maintain it for about 12 minutes before petering out. However, while Soulflame is active, Hunter himself becomes as strong and fast as some of the greatest athletes on the planet. Spinax receives a massive power boost as well as a new paint job.

"Hey Spinax, I've been meaning to ask." Hunter struggled to remove his foldax from the ice, "should I start calling you Giga Spinax now?"

"Spinax is fine, but I gotta say, super evolving isn't all it's cracked up to be." Spinax snorted, "I don't feel any different."

"Maybe that's because you evolved using a shard of a miraculous fossil rock instead of a complete one," Hunter finally pried his foldax loose. The crack in the ice began to widen.

"And now THIS is happening," Hunter folded his arms and huffed as the ground beneath him was taken away. He didn't yell when he fell, but spinax howled with laughter. Hunter got a large amount of snow shoved up his throat when he landed face first on a large mound.

"And he sticks the landing!" Spinax clapped, "the judges are handing out tens today folks!"

"Not everything I do is part of your comedy routine," Hunter knocked some snow out of his ear.

"I know, but it's still funny," Hunter stood up and fell once again when the snow gave out underneath him. This time, he hit cold hard ice.

"Ow!"

"And that is two falls, do I hear three?" Spinax chuckled.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Excuse me if I'm not laughing, I have a chunk of ice UP MY BUTT."

"How does your iced-out anus affect your capacity for laughter?"

"Shut up Spinax." Hunter looked around. He was in….a house? There were a pile of sticks in the middle of the hut that looked like they had just been used for a fire. A slab of stone with an animal skin on it was on the side of the hut, but Hunter was much more interested in the back wall. That wall was blocked from view by a mountain of fossil rocks.

"Look at all this!" Hunter ran up to the stack and examined the fossils, "that's at least 25 different fossils!"

"Oh wow, I bet none of them are a head fossil."

"Probably. I wonder who lives here?"

"…abominable snowman?"

"…..,"

"What? You live in a world with living dinosaurs that can shoot fire out of their pores, it's not that far fetched."

"…..,"

"Earth to Hunter, come in Hunter."

"….look to your right." There was a small mound of snow in the hut. Under the snow, two eyes were staring at Hunter. Tow dark little dots.

"Let's kill it," Spinax laughed maniacally.

"God no, why would you even think about that?"

"Me? Aren't you the master assassin? Come on Sora, do your job." It was then decided that spinax doesn't get to have an opinion.

"I see you." Hunter said calmly. He sat down, "come on out." Slowly, the creature revealed itself. It was still shorter than Hunter even when he sat down. The creature was pure white and had a giant mouth with razor teeth. It was carrying a pile of sticks and a sharp rock.

"Look! It's a domo!" Spinax said.

"What's a domo?"

"I have no frickin' idea."

"Oonga oonga." The creature said.

"Bless you," Hunter replied. "Is this your house?"

"Oonga Oonga."

"I'll take that as a yes, you got a name?"

"Can we call him Oonga Oonga?" Spinax asked.

"What made you come up with a name like that?"

"Oonga Oonga," The creature growled.

"It just popped into my head."

"Fair enough." Hunter stood up and took a step forward, Oonga Oonga shrieked And hoped up and down, waving his sticks menacingly.

"Guess he's not a fan." Hunter pulled the fossil he found earlier out of his backpack and placed it in front of Oonga. The little monster sniffed the fossil before quickly snatching it up and placing it next to the rest of his collection. Oonga Oonga looked at Hunter and did a little hopping dance. Hunter smiled and tried to mimic the dance only to fail spectacularly and fall.

"Stick to hip shaking," Spinax advised. Suddenly, Oonga Oonga began yelling again. He grabbed two fossils from his stack and ran out of the hut, towards a low rumbling noise. Hunter followed, curiosity got the better of him.

"Oonga Oonga!" Oonga screeched as he stopped. Hunter stopped and looked around. They were still under the main sheet of ice, so it was moderately dark. Oonga has stopped at the mouth of a frozen lake. Hunter could see massive holes in the ice on the lake.

"There's an even number of holes." Spinax commented, that means that whatever came out went back in. Any guesses as to who's tail we need to kick?"

"A big sea serpent about the size of half the pond." Hunter replied.

"That's a pretty ambitious guess."

"It's also what's staring at us." Hunter pointed at the large shape under the ice. It was a blue serpent with glowing red eyes. Six spikes jutted out around its neck. It's large front fins and smaller back fins wafted slowly in the water. At the far end of the pond, Hunter could make out a tail that ended in two flukes that resembled a whale tail.

"It's moby dick on diet pills!" Spinax exclaimed.

"Moby dick was white."

"What do you think the diet pills did?"

"Says on my vivowatch that this is a Kaishin."

"….you're no fun."

"If I was any fun, we'd be dead." The Kaishin surged upwards, crashing through the ice. It eyed Oonga Oonga, licking its chops with a forked tongue.

"Oonga Oonga!" Oonga places the fossils on the ground in front of Kaishin. The serpent roared upward to examine the rock. Hunter got a look at its light blue underbelly. It was embedded with an assortment of gemstones and crystals.

"I see," Hunter nodded, "Oonga Oonga gives jewel rocks to Kaishin, who doesn't eat him in exchange."

"Sounds like a parasitic Relationship to me," Spinax commented, "only the tic is huge and will eat the deer if it feels like it." Kaishin swept the jewel rocks into the water and growled at Oonga, who cowered behind a chunk of snow.

"You don't have to take this Oonga," Hunter waved over his new friend, "watch this." He grabbed spinax's dino medal.

"Let's go!" Spinax roared into the battlefield. Kaishin hissed and splashed up freezing water. Spinax swung his arm around mockingly.

"Oonga Oonga!" Oonga jumped up and down excitedly. Hunter gave the little monster a thumbs up.

"Spinax mega!" With his fist cloaked in a tornado, spinax struck Kaishin, sending telling backwards, the ice broke apart to reveal most of the lake. Kaishin swirled in a circle, created a powerful blast of water that came crashing down on spinax. Once again, spinax punched Kaishin, but the serpent recovered immediately and bit down on spinax's arm.

"Geroff me!" Spinax growled as Kaishin attempted to drag him under the water. Spinax fired cyclones from his feet and carried them both into the air. Spinax struck Kaishin again, sending it falling back into the water. A tidal wave rose as Kaishin crashed back to earth. Spinax landed with a thud and frowned when the wave got him wet.

"Dang it! I'm dry clean only…stop imagining a spinax-skin shirt." Kaishin reared up again and rocket towards spinax, launching itself out of the water. Spinax held up his arm to black and the two collided. Spinax grabbed Kaishin's tail before it could scramble back to the water and threw the serpent into the wall. The roof began the crack due to the collision and daylight shone through.

"Okay, what the hell is going on!?" Spinax held up an arm and Hunter saw the rows of scratches along them, "every time I hit him, I get busted up."

Hunter thought for a moment, "…it's the jewels! They must be like some sort of armor."

"No fair! I want sparkly armor."

"….how can you go from being deathly serious to annoyingly childish at the flip of a switch?"

"One of my many endearing quirks." Kaishin launched itself off the wall and wrapped itself around spinax, tightening its grip with every fires off multiple cyclones, but Kaishin wouldn't loosen its grip.

"You fought against the brain of a planet eater and THIS is what gets you?" Hunter stood there, shocked.

"Guhvorn didn't have armor, I'm getting scraped to death right now!" Spinax grunted with pain as he grabbed Kaishin's tail. He slid the serpent across his body in order to pin it down and fire off a point blank Cyclone. Kaishin shrieked as the ground cracked underneath with the force. Kaishin was a crumpled mess on the ground and Spinax was covered in scrapes and cuts the size of Hunter. The real winner of the fight was happily collecting his fossil rocks.

"Oonga Oonga!" Oonga bounced around happily.

"If that guy ever gives you trouble again, just let us know." Spinax growled in agreement, "bye Oonga!" The little snow man bounced off as Hunter waved goodbye.

"Awww." Spinax said, "that's nice. Now if you'll excuse me." With a swift jump and a headbutt, spinax shattered the ceiling. He returned to his dino medal just before hitting the ground. Hunter smiled as he climbed up and out of the lower level….only to be met with biting cold. Hunter's eye began to twitch.

"Don't lose it." spinax warned.

"I'M TOO COLD TO CARE ANYMORE." With a shout, Hunter activated Soulflame.

"For revival machine's sake Hunter!" Spinax whined, "now I'm too hot!"

"Don't care." Hunter tensed up as warmth washed over him. The boat ride back was very awkward as Hunter had to explain to captain travers why he was on fire. Thankfully, Soulflame fizzled out before the boat pulled into the fighter area docks. A sense of suspense and dread washed over Hunter as he walked towards the hotel.

"Chill our dude. Last time you were worried about this too and it turned out to be literally the only human friend you had."

"….thank you for showing me the scope of just how alone I am."

"Just lookin' out for my buddy." Hunter put his fingers to his head and massaged his temples. He entered the hotel and gave the manager a nod.

"A Hunter, I'm afraid I have some grim news. Your room experienced an attempted break in while you were away."

"Really? That's not good," Hunter attempted to sound as concerned as possible.

"Not to worry though. Your new roommate prepared all the damages rather quickly. They are quite talented."

"….right, I'll get up there then." Hunter silently resented that the manager had not said "he" or "she" when he talked about the roommate. Now Hunter had nothing to go off of except that they can fix a window. He stopped in front of his door.

"Do it." Spinax goaded, "doitdoitdoit." Hunter took a deep breath.

"Ready spinax?"

"Are you?"

"No!" Hunter swung the door open.

It was Duna.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" Spinax roared.

"DAMN IT!" Hunter screamed silently.

Done! Fun fact: I have never found Oonga Oonga in fossil fighters. The only reason I know he exists was when a friend told me a few years back.

Hunter:…..why have you forsaken me

Don't know, maybe I just like to think of ways to torture you.

Hunter: is that why this chapter took so long to come out?

Nope, that's because of spring break. I went to Disney World!

Hunter:….you are such a child.

And that's not a bad thing. Thanks for reading!


	40. Chapter 39

Journey of the soul chapter 39

Y'know, I really hope that the viewers don't mind these filler chapters I've been doing.

Hunter: why don't you just get back to the plot then? Is it because you don't know what to do next?

No, I know what I want to do….I just don't know how I'm going to do it.

Hunter: (sigh) well then, I guess we'll just keep stalling for time.

Or we could let spinax take over commentary to keep them entertained.

Hunter: NO. (Warning, slightly mature content ahead. Nothing bad but still, you have been warned)

"Spinax…..SPINAX!" Hunter was behind a shut door, knowing perfectly well what was behind it. Spinax was too busy trying not to laugh to talk to him.

"Seriously dude, I need help!"

"What you need is to go through that door and live with your girlfriend."

"Duna is NOT my girlfriend."

"Riiiiiiight, she's just some girl who you are friends with and make out with on a regular basis."

"Three times does not constitute a regular basis." Hunter heard a strange noise come from the other room. He silently cursed the hotel manager for doing this to him, then cursed himself for not being a man and paying his own rent.

"C'mon coach!" Spinax cheered, "I've been playin' all day. Ow it's your turn to get in the game!"

"I have no idea what you meant by that metaphor."

"And you never will, now go!" Hunter froze with his hand resting on the doorknob. Yesterday, when he saw Duna in his room, he immediately said he didn't feel well and hid out in his bedroom for the rest of the day. What would Happen now that he didn't have that excuse anymore?

"For god's sake Hunter, OPEN THE FRICKIN' DOOR!" Hunter jumped from the shout and the door twitched open. Crap. Hunter slowly pushed the door the rest of the way open to view his living room. The floor was spotless (A result of Hunter being a hermit in his bedroom) and even the window that Hunter had broken yesterday had been fixed somehow. The couch was a mess however, there were a bunch of blankets and a Dinaurian girl on it. Duna was facedown in a couch pillow covered by three blankets. Her arm dangled off the side. Hunter nearly laughed in spite of himself.

"Note to self, buy a mattress," Spinax sent of mental image of him with secretary glasses writing stuff down on a notepad, "….and a second bathroom."

"What do we need a second bathroom for?"

"She's a girl, she needs her own space to do makeup, dry her hair, and pee sitting down."

"That's stereotypical."

"It's true though, girls do pee sitting down. Why do they do that anyway?"

"…I'll tell you when you're older."

"I'm older now by two seconds."

"Shut up Spinax," Suddenly, that strange noise cut off the conversation. Only this time, it was very obvious where it came from.

"Is she….snoring?" Hunter asked

"Something like that." Spinax chuckled, "look, you have something in common."

"I don't snore."

"Correct, you don't snore. you snore LOUDLY." Duna snored once more and rolled out of the makeshift bed, hitting the floor with a soft thud. She slowly opened her eyes and slowly began to get up. Hunter turned away before she noticed him and pretended to be doing something. He wouldn't make a very good impression on someone if they saw him watching them in their sleep. Duna yawned, her hair tangled around her face, and pulled the blanket closest to her up and she stood on her knees.

"Good morning Hunter," she said, half awake, "you are up early today."

"Early? It's almost 10."

"Is that not early for humans?"

"…..I'm going to ignore that and instead acknowledge that Dinaurians probably have a different sleep schedule." Hunter quickly put two pieces of bread in his toaster and sat down on the couch. Duna pulled herself back onto the couch as well and immediately fell back asleep in a sitting position.

"So….. we actually going to do something today?" Spinax asked.

"You know what?...I don't think there's anything left to do." Hunter stared blankly out the window, "I've become a master fighter, saved the world about three times, got my soul back, and now I can set myself on fire on command. My life has pretty much Peaked."

"Man….this is boring." Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. Duna awoke quickly and stumbled over, still half wrapped in a blanket. Hunter caught her with one arm before she fell off the couch…which only succeeded In dragging Hunter down with her.

"Hunter! Open up!" Said a voice from behind the door. Hunter wanted to answer the door, but was currently stuck underneath Duna, who was struggling to free herself from the blanket.

"What kind of human made prison is this?" Duna flailed wildly, smacking Hunter multiple times and flicking her tail.

"Stay clam dude," spinax advised.

"I am calm," Hunter tried to lift Duna off of him, but to no avail.

"That's not what I was referring to."

"…shut up spinax." The knocking on the door had become louder and he could hear the knob clicking. Duna finally pulled the blanket off of herself and began to right herself, accidentally stabbing Hunter with her tail.

"Ow!" Hunter sprang up in pain, which made Duna fall over again. This time, Hunter caught her with both arms and she grabbed onto his neck.

"That's it!" Rosie burst through the doorway, "I'm not waiting any….?" Rosie stared at the scene laid out in front of her. Hunter was half standing up over the couch, cradling Duna in his arms. Duna had her arms draped around Hunter's neck and both of them were breathing heavily.

"Oh god." Hunter shook his head. After a quick apology and a whole lot of explaining, Hunter stopped Rosie from screaming. Later, Hunter began to heat up French toast sticks for the two girls while they talked on the couch. (Apparently, Rosie is too high class for toast)

"So" Rosie asked, "what is it like living with Hunter?"

"I suppose it is not terrible, he does smell rather odd though." Hunter growled and stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth.

"Did you get a good night sleep?"

"I was able to sleep once He stopped snoring."

"Told you." Spinax snickered. Hunter growled again and chewed on the ball of toast in his mouth.

"I'm surprised that someone could sleep on a couch like this."

"Gimme a break Rosie." Hunter retorted through a mouthful of toast, "prize money can only buy so much."

"Then I'll buy a new mattress for Duna!" Rosie states proudly, "think of it like a housewarming gift." Duna's eye's widened with shock.

"You do not have to do that for me Rosie," Duna assured, "I can certainly manage on my own,"

"And why are you so interested in helping Duna out?" Hunter asked, "…..what do you want from me Rosie." Rosie laughed nervously.

"Hunter hunter hunter, when have I ever asked you for anything? Certainly I've been a friend who doesn't expect much."

"…no I will not teach you how to use Soulflame."

"Aww, c'mon!" Rosie pouted, "I wont ask you for anything else ever again." Hunter had forgotten that Rosie was significantly younger than him and still childish.

"Rosie, I honestly have no idea how I can even do it, much less teach."

"Then there's only one way to convince you," Rosie sprang off the couch, "fight me!" Hunter nearly choked on his toast.

"Aren't you still a level 6 fighter?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Let me get this straight then. You think that a fight will trigger Soulflame, and by seeing it once, you'll learn how to do it too."

"Can't hurt to try!" Rosie said cheerfully, "and if you say no, I'll tell everyone through the intercom that you're coupling with a Dinaurian." This time, Hunter did choke on his toast and was forced to spit it out into the trash can.

"What is coupling?" Duna asked, oblivious to the seriousness of what Rosie just said.

"I say we kill her and hide the body," spinax growled.

"Don't you make the same kinds of jokes?"

"Yeah, but nobody gets to mess with my spiky idiot but me."

"My hair isn't that spiky," Hunter turned to Rosie, "Alright fine, I'll be down by the stadium in ten minutes." Rosie nodded and raced out the door.

"Again, what is coupling?" Duna asked.

"Well…it's kinda….uh…lookituponthecomputer, be back later!" Hunter bolted out the door quickly and slammed it behind him. Duna sighed, "humans are complex creatures, or perhaps he gets that from his Dinaurian side."

Hunter flew down the steps of the hotel, eager just to get it over with. He ran outside and slowed down to a walk once he left the hotel behind him.

"Is this god's way of payback?" Hunter moaned, "I'm sorry spinax said life is boring! You can smite him if you want!"

"Hey! I'm already on the big man's bad side, don't make it worse!"

"What did you do?"

"I'm an atheist."

"….so you're afraid of something…that you don't believe in…."

"Shhhh! Not so loud, he might here you and send me straight to Hell!"

"….I will never understand you." As Hunter walked closer to the fossil stadium he noticed that there were much more people around than normal. Most of them carried cameras and wore straw hats. Tourists. Hunter quickly pulled his visor of his head and stuffed it in his backpack. His hair slumped down to almost cover his eyes.

"What's with the new doo?" Spinax asked, "going for a different look from the porcupine cut?"

"I don't want to get recognized, the last thing I need is to be swarmed by people." Hunter ducked through the crowd and made his way into the fossil stadium…which was also crowded. On the bright side, he managed to stay up on the floor and not get pin-balled around.

"Good morning!" The receptionist said brightly when he made his way up to the counter, "what can I help you with?"

"I'm here to fight Rosie Richmond," Hunter said flatly, "she probably has it scheduled already." The receptionist's eye's widened for a moment before Hunter put a finger to his lips to silence her.

"Please don't say anything." He begged.

"You're Hun-"

"Yep, Hunter Cloud, I'll also be trampled if you say anything so please keep quiet." The receptionist nodded slowly and signaled for Hunter to go to the hallway. He walked through the automatic doors and saw Rosie at the end of the hall. She had her back turned to him and was impatiently tapping her foot.

"Y'know, if you wanted to fight you could've just asked," Hunter walked up next to her, "but now, I won't feel bad when I beat you."

"We'll see about that, mop head," She retorted with a smirk.

"Mop head? That's the best you could come up with?"

"Hmmm, I wonder what yours and Duna's babies will look like."

"…I'm going to enjoy this way more than I should." The door opened and the crowd roared as the two walked out onto the stadium. Hunter noticed, however, that there weren't nearly as many people as he thought. He looked at the monitor displaying the names of the fighters: Rosie Richmond vs. Gunter Loud…..

"I'm going to wipe her vivosaurs off the face of the earth."

"That wouldn't look very good on your permanent record though," spinax added, "at least she knows you well enough to keep the people off your back" secretly, Hunter was glad that Rosie came up with a fake name to hide his identity. But he was never gonna admit that.

"Spinax! Del-"

"Just spinax!" Rosie called from the other side of the stadium. Hunter rolled his eyes. For some reason, spinax is the only vivosaur that gets a power boost when Soulflame is active, and Rosie knows that.

"She really thinks that I'll teach her how to do it." Hunter rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. Spinax roared as he came into the battlefield. Hunter quickly noted how spinax's roar had become much louder since super revival.

"Siamo!" Rosie called out a large red theropod with a similar build to t-rex. It was completely red aside from black markings around its eyes and a bright blue feather plume on its head. The two vivosaurs stood motionless before siamo let out a roar and charged at spinax, who held up an arm to block. The two collided, but only for a second and siamo had used its momentum to push itself off of spinax's arm and launch itself into the air. Siamo shot fire at spinax as it landed behind him. Spinax quickly turned and let out a powerful cyclone that dispersed the flames before they reached him. However, Siamo used that time to run to the side of spinax, who was unable to dodge when Siamo whipped its tail in his face.

"Y'know what?" Spinax growled, "screw the permanent record." Spinax picked up Siamo in his massive jaws and slammed the vivosaur into the ground before flinging it into the air. Siamo recovered with a jet of flame to prevent crashing to earth.

"Spinax Mega!" Wind rushed through spinax's jaws as he bit down on Siamo. With a a roar, spinax threw Siamo into the wall.

"Wait," spinax stood there for a moment, "is Spinax Mega the bite or the punch?"

"I…..don't know."

"Sizzling breath!" Siamo spewed waves of flame towards Spinax. Spinax dashed to the side to avoid the main inferno, but was still grazed.

"Spinax Giga!" Spinax launched himself into the air and surrounded his claw in a tornado, he crashed to earth and slammed his claw into Siamo, cracking the shock resistant ground underneath them.

"Annnnnnd that's that." Spinax dusted off his hands with a toothy smirk.

"I think you went a little overboard," Hunter notes, "it's not moving and hasn't gone back to its medal yet."

"Oh come on," spinax turned back towards Hunter, "that thing never had a chance to begin wi-"

"Scorch breath!" Hot magma sprayed spinax in the back, who roared in pain.

"Imma kill 'im!" Spinax shook the ground with his roar and Hunter felt a massive power surge coming from spinax.

"Soulflame," Spinax growled, "NOW."

"Ugh….fine." Hunter closed his eyes for a moment, his muscles tensed. With a shout, blue flames shot out from Hunter's eye. Collective gasps came from the crowd and were then followed by screams of excitement.

"Nice hair," spinax commented. Hunter ran a hand through his hair, trying to ignore the huge grin on Rosie's face. His hair was back to being spiked without the help of his visor.

"It's also blonde and glowing." Spinax commented.

"Wait, what!?"

"Ha! Gotcha." Spinax's crystal armor took on the familiar blue color as well and he turned to face Siamo, who backed up slowly.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Hunter Cloud is in the arena!" The announcer blared. Hunter silently thanked Dr. Diggins for giving the public an explanation for Soulflame (a malfunction during spinax's revival had caused not only latent fire abilities to be accessible, put part of spinax's soul got stuck in Hunter so it affects him too. Might sound crazy, but it's more believable than the truth.)

"Soulfire!" A cascade a blue flames shot outta Spinax's mouth, engulfing Siamo. Siamo retaliated with its own burst of flame, but spinax blew that away with a tornado.

"Scorch breath!" Siamo fired the same spray of magma, but this time spinax calmly walked through it. Spinax stopped directly in front of Siamo and grabbed its neck.

"Up!" Spinax rocketed upward, gripping a thrashing Siamo in his arms.

"Falling star!" Spinax engulfed himself and Siamo in blue flames before shooting downward. The two crashed to earth in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, spinax was smiling while holding up a limp Siamo.

"I think I might prefer the quiet life," spinax growled, "this little bugger bit me."

Done!...wait a minute….

Hunter: 3…..2….

IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY!?

Hunter: yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay…can I go home now?

Why didn't anybody tell me?

Hunter: doesn't matter, chapters over. We go home now.

Can't you be at least a little more excited?

Hunter: nope, too tired, bye everyone!


	41. Chapter 40

Journey of the soul chapter 40

Hmmmmmm

Hunter:hmmmmm

Spinax: hmmmmmm…okay, this is boring.

I know, but there's not much we can do except wait for my computer to work and start the chapter.

Hunter: oh, I've always wondered how that worked. Is anything important actually gonna happen in this one?

Probably not. Oh hey, it's starting.

Hunter: quick! Say the thing!

I don't own fossil fighters…..Wait…did I say that last chapter?...or the one before that?...or the-

Hunter was standing in an open field. Wind slowly whistled through the air and the moon shine down, illuminated the grass with iridescent light. Small flowers littered the ground. Hunter did his best to avoid stepping on them as he made his way across the field. A small blue flame float above Hunter's cupped hands. He "carried" this flame with him as he made his way to the end of the field. It was there that he saw a lone figure standing at the edge of a small pond. Their spiked hair waved in the wind just as Hunter's did. Hunter walked up next to the figure and saw that he too was carrying a bright blue flame in his hands. They didn't look at each other, they didn't speak to each other either. The two just stood there for a while. Eventually, two new lights shone from across the pond, but they were a brilliant white light. They two flames burned much brighter than Hunter and his companion and they were much farther apart as well. Hunter turned to look at the boy next to him and gasped, yet no sound came out of his mouth.

He was staring at his own face.

"Gah!" Hunter awoke with a start and nearly fell out of his bed. His entire body shook and he was drenched in sweat. Hunter's breathing was ragged and short, as if he couldn't get enough air in his lungs. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly

"Just a dream, just a dream." He whispered to himself. He turned over in his bed and stifled a yell.

"SPINAAAAAAAX!" Hunter screamed internally.

"Zzzzzzzgh? It's not morning ye-…..HOLY REVIVAL MACHINE, WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING IN YOUR BED!?"

"I don't know!" Hunter was face to face with Duna, who was fast asleep next to him, "get me out of here!"

"What'd you want me to do, roar at her?" Spinax's dino medal spun in Hunter's holder, "I'm not exactly in prime condition to do anything right now!"

"Then give me advice on how to get out of here!"

"Why don't you just get off the bed?"

"Because her TAIL is wrapped around my leg!" Hunter tried to shift his foot, but Duna's tail curled around it even tighter and she made a small noise.

"For god's sake, help!"

"What are you so freaked out about? Worst comes to worst, your girlfriend wakes up and apologizes for….sleepwalking?"

"Spinax, there are only three things I fear in this world: Heights, being stranded in open ocean, and girls. And I do NOT want to face my fears today."

"…..did you just reference?"

"No, now GET ME THE HELL OUTTA THIS MESS!" Hunter thrashed as wildly as he could for someone stuck under a blanket and eventually slipped his foot out of Duna's tail.

This of course, was a mistake.

"Mmhmm," Duna eyelids slowly opened.

"Do a barrel roll!" Spinax coached. Hunter rolled out of bed and hit the carpet beneath with a thud, ignoring the bruise that began to form on his shoulder, Hunter rolled under his bed and stayed there, lying on his back.

"So….now what?" Hunter asked

"We wait until she leaves." Hunter heard rustling above him and got pressed to the ground as Duna sat up on the bed. With the bent mattress crushing his face, Hunter couldn't breath.

"Assistance would be appreciated!" He alerted spinax.

"Hmm, well this is an unfortunate situation."

"Ya think? Add a door lock on my shopping list."

"Noted." Duna moved off the bed and Hunter let in a quick gasp of air, which was masked by the creaking of the bed.

"Oh dear," Duna murmured before quickly leaving his bedroom.

"Mission success!" Spinax cheered. Hunter scrambled out of the bed and grabbed a sticky note from the stack on his desk. He grabbed his holder as well and clipped it loosely on his cargo shorts.

"What are you doing?"

"What will Duna think when she realizes that I'm not in the other room either?" Hunter quickly wrote an excuse on the sticky note (left to get things, wont be here in the morning) and slowly opened his own door. Duna has her back turned to him and was a bout to go out to the balcony. Hunter slapped the sticky note on the front of his door and slowly ambled his way towards the door. He slipped on a pair of sandals and slid out the door unnoticed.

"Thank whatever god was watching," Hunter silently prayed. He had been living with Duna for two weeks now, but that was the first time anything like that had happened.

"So, What's the plan now chief?"

"We hide out somewhere until morning, what time is it right now?"

"Not morning."

"Thanks, real helpful."

"How am I supposed to know? I don't have a watch….or a wrist small enough for a watch." Hunter sighed and walked downstairs to the lobby. No one was there, but he was free to leave. Hunter walked outside and immediately shivered. In nothing but a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, he wasn't exactly fit for winter weather. Even if it is a tropical island. A boat was docking, so Hunter walked down to the park area and went to his usual spot. He leaned against the guard rail and listened to the waves.

"It's nice to get to relax for once," he lamented, "no more level up battles, no helping out ghosts or wackos, no saving the earth."

"You think that we deserve a vacation?" Spinax asked, "I hear the caliosteo island are nice this time of-…."

"What?"

"Make no sudden movements. Three cops." Hunter froze. Slowly, he turned around.

"I know you're there." Like spinax had said, three police officers emerged from hiding.

"Hunter Cloud." One of them pulled out a gun, "put your hands in the air."

"Shit." Hunter said internally

"Double shit." Spinax followed through. Hunter was handcuffed and taken to the police station. He was in a daze. They found him, they actually found him after all these years. He never thought that he'd be caught for a crime he didn't commit, yet here he was in the interrogation room, with a police officer holding his vivosaur holder.

"Yesterday evening, we got a call from a small town on the mainland," the officer explained, "somebody calling in about a murderer from seven years ago on the island."

"Well, you found him." Hunter put his hands up.

"So it's true then?"

"Depends, what have you heard?" The police officer sighed.

"Get me outta here!" Spinax moaned, "he won't stop spinning the holder!"

"Little busy right now."

"When I get out of here, I'm totally throwing up on you."

"Are you the adopted son of Dexter and Lily Cloud?" The officer asked.

"Yes,"

"Did you murder your parents?"

"Hell no," Hunter's hand curled into a fist, "who told you that?"

"I will not disclose that information to you."

"So Uncle Sam then." Hunter's murder case was an odd one, he had been keeping up with it for a while now. The only thing that was for certain was that Hunter killed the man of unknown origin that entered the house. However, Hunter's uncle Samuel, who was an avid supporter of the investigation, was convinced that Hunter killed his parents too. This started all the rumors and the "Mason Maniac" legend. Hunter never liked Uncle Sam much, he kept trying to convince his father to ship Hunter off to military school.

"Do you deny killing the other person in the house at the time."

"No. Aren't police officers supposed to be more specific about interrogations?"

"Not if the persecuted admits to it," Hunter leaned back in the chair. He told his story to the officer about that day seven years ago. They listened intently, pausing to jot something down on a notepad

"Look kid, you saved the world. I'm sure many people will be willing to overlook what you did. But it's our sacred duty to uphold the law, and you've admitted to one murder already."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Hunter. That could work, right?

"Worth a shot," spinax muttered.

"Officer, before you lock me up, there's one thing I have to say."

"And that would be?"

"Sorry about this," Hunter activated Soulflame and rammed his handcuff rim into the Officer's neck, triggering a pressure point that knocked him out immediately. Hunter snapped the handcuffs as easily as breaking a stick. He grabbed his holder and bolted out of the room. He did the same to the officers in the main room and darted out of the police station.

"Wasn't that a little excessive?" Spinax questioned.

"Think about it, this police station had been led by a crime boss for years and no one knew. And now, they let a teenage boy escape. They'll want to keep this under wraps until they catch me, Which won't happen."

"We're gonna be war criminals for the rest of our lives?"

"I wouldn't put it that wa-"

"We need new names! Let's see…I'll be….Altis! And you'll be…."

"We don't have to."

"Ryumma!"

"…no." (Cross:the amount of searching I did to find their Japanese names can be chronicled in at least seven books) Hunter thought for a moment, "the boat, it was docking when I left. It should still be there."

"…..there's going to be a "but" after this."

"Yep, the boat's there but there's two things I need to take care of first." Hunter had a mental sensation of spinax running through his mind, searching for what he needed to take care of."

"Sounds like a plan coach, now let's win the last game of the season!" Hunter ran into the fighter area. The boat was docked, but people were crowding by it. Hunter skidded across the pavement and went into the fossil center. He slipped and fell onto the floor. His sandals flew off his feet and behind the counter, but Hunter didn't bother to go and get them. He slid through another door and crashed into a stack of papers.

"Hunter?" Dr. Diggins pulled hunter out of the papers, "still haven't found a pair of shoes with good traction?"

"Read the letter," Hunter said.

"The what?"

"The letter. The letter I gave you before I fought Guhnash; and make sure that everybody else who was there at the time reads it too." Hunter handed Dr. Diggins his visor and left him with a confused face. Miraculously, Hunter's bare feet didn't slide when he ran through the fossil center.

"The boat will be leaving in approximately ten minutes," the intercom blared, "if you are leaving, please board immediately." The sun began to shine on the horizon. Hunter cursed as he stepped on a rock, but that didn't slow him down. He went back into the hotel and hopped up the stairs. He held in a deep breath. Slowly, Hunter opened the door to his room.

"Sonuva-", spinax muttered. Duna was directly in front of Hunter, about to go somewhere.

"Where have you-" Duna managed to say before Hunter covered her mouth.

"I have to leave here. For good" He walked over to the couch and pulled on his tennis shoes, leaving Duna stunned.

"Leave? Where?!" She sputtered, "Why do you want to lea-"

"Duna, they found me," Hunter furrowed his brow, "it's either I leave or all of you leave." It dawned on Duna why he was leaving. Hunter could easily clear his name by rating out the Dinaurians' origin, but that would force them out of their new home. Duna embraces Hunter as he stood up again.

"Awwwwwww," spinax swooned, "See? definite girlfriend material."

"Whatever," Hunter brushed Duna's hair away from her face. He kissed her forehead and slowly pulled away.

"I'm sorry," Duna whispered, "I wish that the world wasn't this cruel to you."

"Eh, that's fine. I'm not a huge fan of the world either." Hunter knew that the joke was in bad taste, but it was all he could say. He grabbed his backpack (which had supplies for something like this) and the photo album off the shelf. He stole one last look at Duna before leaving his home.

"I love you," He whispered and shut the door.

"DAMNIT!" Spinax yelled.

"What?"

"I finally got you to admit that you liked a girl and now we have to frickin leave!"

"We'll come back…someday," Hunter fought back tears, "who am I kidding." He drove his fist into the wall and swore when his knuckle split. He wiped the blood off his hand as he walked out of the hotel.

"The ship will be leaving in approximately two minutes," the intercom blared once more. Hunter quickly got in the ever shortening line. Without his visor, he blended in perfectly with the family in front of him.

"No way! Guan is totally the best." Hunter turned towards an old park bench. He could still imagine himself sitting there, arguing with Holt over what the best Vivosaur is.

"Hey kid! You coming or what?" Hot tears stung Hunter's face as he payed the fare and boarded the ship. He walked along the large deck all the way to the back. Hunter stared at Vivosaur island. He could see the entire fighter area from his elevated view. He turned around as the ship lurched forward and stared down at the rippling wake.

"No turning back," he told himself.

"Except for right now." Spinax let out a blast of wind that forced Hunter around. His gaze dropped on the hotel roof.

Duna was there, waving to him. He laughed in spite of himself and waved back.

"Thanks spinax."

"Shut up Hunter."

It's not leaving that hurts the most, but rather the ones that we leave behind.


	42. Chapter 41

Journey of the soul chapter 41

Here we are, ladies and gents. The champions saga! Keep in mind that there is a four month time skip from the last chapter.

Spinax: Wait Wait Wait….so this chapter doesn't have Hunter in it at all?

Nary a mention of his name. Also keep in mind that there will be a couple introductory chapters that don't deal with the plot yet and there will certainly be diversions from the "fossil fighters canon"

Spinax: he's not gonna like that when he gets back. Speaking of which, where is he?

The better question is, where are you?

Spinax: that…is an excellent question. Onto the chapter!

The caliosteo islands, Approximately 120 miles off the coast of Vivosaur island. And like it's neighbor, the three islands are a hotspot for fossil battles. This is where all the best fossil fighters are at. Including one of the greatest fossil fighters in the world: Joe Wildwest. The owner of the fossil parks on the islands. This man has gone toe to toe with Saurhead, he's had a 98-2 winning record, and he's wrestled a t-rex to the ground (maybe not that last one). This man stands at the summit of fossil fighting greatness. This man is also all 12-year old Todd can think about.

"2 weeks," he keeps telling himself as he walked down the road, "2 weeks," Todd's green shirt and beige pants keep flapping in the wind. He shivers from the cold, but the chill does nothing to dampen his spirit. In just a few days from now, he's going to try out in preliminary battles to become a competitor in a tournament held by joe wildwest himself: the caliosteo cup. It's all Everyone's been talking about lately. He can't wait to get started.

THUD.

Todd's head collided with the trunk of a tree. "Idiot,"he told himself, "that's what you get for not paying attention." Wait, Todd didn't say that out loud

"Now get lost," Todd looked up to see a lump on the tree roll over. The lump had a black shirt on with a pair of blue jeans. The only thing interesting about it was a head of spiky blue hair.

"Hey you!" Todd called, "what're you doing up there?"

"Trying to ignore you." The lump called back.

"Where you sleeping?"

"I was until some moron ran into my tree."

"It's not your tree, this tree belongs to the park."

"…..I'm surrounded by morons."

"No, you're surrounded by leaves."

"That's it!" The lump stood up and jumped off the tree, landing with a painful sounding thud. Todd realized that the lump couldn't be much older than him. He also saw that his bare feet were scraped and cut.

"Are you homeless tree man?" Todd asked. The tree man pulled his goggles off his eyes to reveal dark blue irises.

"No, I'm not homeless, I just sleep in trees for a hobby." Tree man walked off down the sidewalk. He winced when his foot came down on a rock.

"Sonuva-,"

"Language."

"….stop following me kid."

"Don't call me a kid!" Todd protested, "you can't be much older than me."

"Whatever, leave me alone." Tree man kept walking and Todd kept following him. He didn't know why, but Todd wanted to learn more about this strange guy.

"So tree man, where ya headed?"

"…somewhere."

"Where's somewhere?"

"Not here, that's for sure."

"Do you know where somewhere is?"

"…not exactly."

"How are you gonna get there then?"

"Do you always ask 50 questions to random strangers?" Tree man shot back, "I know where I'm going, I've just…never been there before."

"The how do you-,"

"I swear to god. If you ask another question I'm throwing you into that sewer line." The tree man pointed towards a small ditch where water seeped down into the sewer. Todd doubted he would actually throw him down there, but stopped talking anyway. They walked for a while until they left the park and entered the suburbs. They passed house after house. The tree man's eyes darted from building to building, looking for something.

"I wonder what house has what you're looking for," Todd worded this statement carefully so it wouldn't sound like a question.

"Further down here."

"Alright tree man."

"Stop calling me that."

"Well, what do you want to be called?" The nameless boy stopped.

"Call me….Uh…..crap." He shook his head, "you know what? A name's not important."

"Alright then Crap, let's keep going!"

"I didn't- clever guy aren't ya?" Todd saw a hint of a smile on crap's face, "the name's…Dino, c'mon," They changed sidewalks and continued down a different street. Every house looked the same to Todd, but Dino seemed to know where he was going. Eventually, they stopped in front of a small house with an old tin mailbox that was rusting in the edges.

"Who's house is this?"

"Remember what I said about asking questions?"

"There's not a sewer ditch anywhere near here."

"That drainage filter over there would work just as well." Dino walked up to the door of the house and knocked, no answer. He rang the doorbell, no answer. After a few more failed attempts Dino kicked the door and sat down on the porch steps with a disgruntled look. Todd sat down next to him.

"Why are you following me…"

"Todd,"

"Like I said, name's aren't important. I just need to know why your following me."

"Hmm. Maybe I'm just excited about the future, or maybe I just think you could use a friend."

"Friend?" Dino snorted, "….you're a strange ki….guy Todd. What makes you think your future is so great?" At this, Todd jumped up with excitement.

"The caliosteo cup is in 2 weeks and I'm gonna be a part of it!"

"The caliowhat cup?"

"You don't know? It's only the biggest vivosaur tournament since forever!"

"….vivosaur?" What a Vivosaur was, Dino didn't get the chance to find out. A loud crashing noise followed by the ground shaking. Todd fell over while Dino crouched down on all fours. Dino eventually did fall over in shock when a dimorphodon flew overhead, followed by an allosaurus crashing through the trees after it.

"What the hell?!" Dino stumbled backwards.

"Check it out!" Todd pointed, "a fossil battle. Let's go!" He darted off towards the struggle and Dino reluctantly followed. He didn't want some kid getting eaten on his still, freakin' DINOSAURS!?

"C'mon! We're losing em!" Todd called

"That's probably for the best, idiot! That's a freakin dinosaur!" Todd ignored Dino and continued to chase after the rampaging tyrants. The allosaurus grabbed the dimorphodon in It's mouth and pinned it to the ground. At this moment, Dino noticed two people arguing as the battle raged on.

"Back off old man! You've got no business with me." An everyday street thug screeched at a man in a cloak. The old man wore glasses and laughed when he was yelled at.

"Why, my good fellow. You can't just go around taking whatever you please." The man held up a Dino medal, "I'll return this to its rightful owner after I'm done dealing with you."

"I wonder who's fighting?" Todd stepped out of the way of a flying piece of rubble like it was a normal occurrence.

"What kind of world am I living in?!" Dino held his head in his hands. Arches of pain shot through his skull. New images popped into his head. Different dinosaurs fighting each other. Giant battles that were held in a stadium. This was not new to him. But where had he seen this before?

The allosaurus chewed on the dimorphodon until it disappeared in a flash of white light. The thug yelled in fear as the allosaurus ran at it. The old man laughed and turned towards Dino and Todd.

"Now how about you two spectators come over here?" The two boys sheepishly approached. The allosaurus disappeared in a similar light and the man caught its dino medal.

"Wow, that was awesome mister!" Todd practically jumped up as he spoke, "you took care of that guy no problem!"

"Well, I've had years of practice. What about you dino? I've never seen you this riled up before. Fancy being a fossil fighter?" Dino stumbled backwards.

"What are you on about Alvis? I've never seen you…before." Dino held a hand up to his throat. Alvis? Who's Alvis?

"Do you know this guy dino?" Todd asked.

"Dino is an old acquaintance of mine. Speaking of which, I believe I should return these to you." Alvis handed two cards and a key to Dino. One card was covered in a layer of dust. The other card had an extremely long number on it as well as the word "participant"

"Oh wow!" Todd exclaimed, pulling out a similar card from his pocket, "you're competing in the cup too dino?"

"What? No I….." what was he doing? Dino hadn't thought about what he wanted in a long time. Years of wandering aimlessly…wait. Had it been years? It felt like such a short time.

"Of course he is," Alvis put a hand on Dino's shoulder. He glared up at the older man.

"Get off me geezer." Todd's eyebrows went up in shock, but Alvis laughed.

"You really are the other half. Use the key to find what you're looking for." Other half?

"What the hell are you on about geezer?!" Dino yelled at Alvis as he walked away laughing.

"You were kinda rude Dino. Maybe you should go apologize."

"I didn't ask for any of this crap. His junk isn't my problem."

"But he said he was returning them, so it's your junk."

"Shut up." Dino rubbed the dust off one of the cards to reveal a face so faded that he couldn't make out what it said. From what he could tell, it was a picture of someone with words next to it.

"Hmm At any rate, let's go use that key!"

Todd dramatically walked back the way they came."

"And where would we use the key that a total stranger gave me. Riddle me that, genius." Dino rolled his eyes.

"At the house back there." Todd led Dino back to the house they were at before.

"Why are you even trying to help me?"

"You look like someone who could use a friend, I already told you this."

"I don't need or want you around,"

"Well I think you do so I'm stickin' with you until that attitude gets fixed. Now give me the key." Dino growled, but complied. Todd was an strange kid. One minute he'd be subdued and rational. But when they were talking about that cup thing and vivosaurs he was beyond excited. Still, his perpetual cheery attitude was pissing him off. Dino sat on the steps and grumbled while Todd fumbled with the key. It did, in fact, fit and the door creaked open.

"Hmm. It looks like nobody lived here for a while." Todd remarked, "your house is a wreck Dino."

"It's not my house."

"What?!" Dino ignored Todd and walked further into the house. He went straight past the living room and into a dark hallway.

"You can't just walk into other people's houses! That's trespassing! I don't even know where we are and we could get arrested!"

"We're in Mason."

"That's not what I meant! C'mon, we need to get outta here!"

"Not until I find what I'm looking for." Dino pushed open the door at the end of the hall. It was a small room with a bed in the corner with faded blue blankets. A small dresser lined the wall and a lamp was turned over on its side with no light bulb. It was a room fit for a child. Dino crouched down by the dresser and reached under it. He pulled out a small black box.

"What's that?" Todd asked.

"It's what I'm looking for." Dino opened the box. There were two things inside.

One was a ferry ticket to Vivosaur island.

The other was a Dino medal.

Done! I'd thought I'd let this chapter have a little mystery to it. As for the new characters, I think I'll do a better job with Todd later on. Dino is a giant prick, but he's supposed to be like that so I did a good job…maybe? Thanks for reading!


	43. Chapter 42

Journey of the soul chapter 42

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, new chapter!

Spinax: …are you trying to hype up your own chapter? Pretty sure there more important things going on right now; like where in the universe I am right now.

Shut up, this is exciting. I've finally gotten over a slump in my life. Summer vacation is here and I don't have to look at an AP writing prompt for 3 months!

Spinax: that's great, real great. WHERE THE HELL AM I?!

I'm getting to that. But for now, be excited! It's a new chapter and I don't own fossil fighters!

Spinax:…do you really think you can hype this up?

I AM THE HYPE!

"Dino! Get down here!" Dino's eyelids slowly opened. He snorted at the source of the noise and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep.

"C'mon! I've got a great idea!" Todd called again from below."

"I don't care." Dino plucked an acorn off the tree he was on and threw it down at Todd, "I'm through with your stupid ideas." It had been three days since Dino and Todd has met each other and found the Dino medal in the strange house. Since then, Todd had devised schemes to get Dino to battle with his new vivosaur, all of which were shut down abruptly. Dino couldn't even get the strange looking vivosaur out of the Dino medal, much less use it to fight. Still, Apparently Dino just HAD to go with Todd for the preliminaries of the caliosteo cup. The preliminaries were being held on some place called Vivosaur island, which Dino conveniently had a ticket for a ferry there courtesy of whoever the heck lives in that house.

"Wake UP!" Todd hopped up and grabbed the branch Dino was laying on. The combined weight of the two boys snapped the limb off the tree and the both tumbled to the grass below.

"What was that for?!" Dino grabbed Todd's shirt collar and yanked him off the ground, "that was my bed you moron!" Todd burst into laughter.

"Well, at least now you're out off the tree." Dino let go of Todd and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Whatever."

"C'mon Dino. The preliminaries are tomorrow and you need to be able to use that vivosaur if you want to win."

"Who says I even want to go?" Dino pulled the medal out of his pocket, "I don't even know what this thing is." Even Todd was stumped as to the identity of the vivosaur in the Dino medal. Dino shoved the medal into his back pocket.

"Alright, let's go to wherever your stupid plan is." Todd's face lit up like a firework.

"You got it. Follow me!" Todd half walked, half ran out of the park. Dino followed a measurable distance behind him. As much as he hated to admit it, Dino wanted to compete in fossil battles. He didn't even know why, it just feels like something he should do.

They walked outside the park and down the street towards a bus stop. They sat around and waited until the bus arrived. Todd, who not only had to remind Hunter that he had no money but also that he was homeless, paid for both their tickets and gave Dino an extra pair of shoes to wear. Either Dino had small feet or Todd had huge feet, because they fit perfectly. They sat down and waited until the bus lurched forward.

"So, where are we going?" Dino kicked his feet back on top of the seat in front of them.

"It's a secret!" Todd smiles, obviously enjoying himself, "you'll just have to wait until we get there." Great, now he could be led straight to his death and not even know.

"Don't be so paranoid," Dino jumped in shock just as the bus took a sharp turn. He banged into the window and earned strange looks from everyone on the bus.

"What's got you all jumpy?" Todd asked quietly when he sat back down.

"Did you not hear that?" Dino's eyes darted from seat to seat. Who said that? It took a while before he was able to calm down enough to close his eyes and sleep the rest of the way there.

"All right, last stop." Dino heard the bus driver call when Todd shook him awake, "Everyone off!" The two 8boys exited the bus and watched it drive away.

"So, why did you drag me out to the middle of nowhere?" Dino looked around. They were dropped off halfway above an old mountain trail. The forest surrounded them and even trailed off below them. Off to the side was a cliff that gave way to more of the forest.

"Gimme a minute, I have to find the trail." Todd walked off and left Dino grumbling to himself.

"Waste of my Saturday." Dino walked over to the edge of the cliff. He wasn't stupid enough to get too close, but he could still see the vast expanse of green below him. Two pure white birds flew by beneath him as the wind whistled through his hair. (Cross: DS Graphics do not give this game what it deserves) Dino pulled out the Dino medal

And traced the outline of the vivosaur on it. The creature was some sort of bipedal crocodile from what it looked like.

"Hey Dino!" Todd called, "how long are you gonna be staring at the scenery huh?" Dino sighed and shoved the medal back into his pocket. He walked over to where Todd was jumping excitedly.

"This is definitely the place! We can find wild vivosaurs up here!" Whatever Dino has prepared himself for, wild vivosaurs was not it.

"Wouldn't that be the same as poking a bear with a stick? Why are we deliberately looking for FREAKIN' DINOSAURS!?"

"Because you and I both need more vivosaurs, especially if you can't use the one you have. Race you to the top!" Todd dashed up the road and disappeared over the hill. Dino slouched over and shuffled up the hill. He caught up with Todd, who was out of breath.

"Man….you definitely need to work on running faster." Dino rolled his eyes and looked around.

"I'm seeing a severe lack of vivosaurs, wild or any other kind."

"Dang it!" Todd stomped his feet in the ground, "someone must have been lying to me when they said there were vivosaurs up here." Todd was silenced when they heard a loud thud in the distance. It was immediately followed by several more thuds.

"What the heck is that?" Dino turned to Todd for an explanation, but for some reason Todd looked frozen in place.

"What are you-"

"GGRRRROOOOAAAAARRR!" An allosaurus bursted from the trees where Todd had been looking. It snarled at the two boys before charging.

"GO!" Dino shoved Todd into motion and they darted away. Their heavy footfalls were drowned out by the allosaurus growling.

"Use you vivosaurs!" Dino called to Todd.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I didn't bring any!"

"Dumbass!" They skidded to a halt when they reached the cliff edge. The allosaurus, knowing it had won, slowly approached with a menacing snark that looked like a grin.

"What about your vivosaur?" Todd asked, clearly grasping at straws for a way out of this mess. Dino yanked the Dino medal out of his pocket and threw it on the ground. Nothing.

"Damn piece of Crap!" Dino stuffed the medal back into his pocket, "Alright. New plan. We get it to rush at us and at the last minute, get outta the way. We'll make it fall of the cliff."

"Do you really think that'll work?" Todd asked.

"No, but it beats laying down and getting eaten." Just then, a loud screech caught the attention of the two boys. A pteranodon screeched again as it neared the cliff edge, but what shocked Dino more was that there was a person RIDING the pteranodon.

"Y'all get on quick!" The man called.

"What?!" Todd healed over the roaring allosaurus.

"C'mon now, both of ya!" The man outstretched a gloved Hand. Dino understood the gesture and pushed Todd forward. Todd took a running start and leaped onto the vivosaur. He then turned back and reached for Dino The allosaurus has grown wise to what they were doing and charged straight at them. Dino kicked off the ground and rocketed through the air, but he wasn't quick enough. He could feel the allosaurus' hot breath as teeth surrounded his peripheral vision. His feet slides across the edge of an outstretched tongue.

"Well, of all the ways I could've died. This one is at least pretty badass."

"Who says you're gonna die?" That voice, It's the same as before! Suddenly, Dino was being pushed forward by an unknown force. It felt as if a current of air was shooting out from his back. Dino rushes forward and felt a tooth go straight through his hair. He emerged from the maw of the allosaurus just before its teeth snapped shut. Dino grabbed Todd's hand and was hoisted onto the back of the pteranodon.

"Hold on tight you two! Yee'hah!" Pteranodon snapped its wing downward and they flew away from the allosaurus; leaving it to roar in frustration.

"The pteranodon landed in a small clearing near the mountain trail that Todd had "raced" Dino up. As the man who saved them returnees his pteranodon to a Dino medal, Todd was practically buzzing.

"What are you vibrating about?" Dino asked.

"Dino, do you know who that is?" Todd pointed at their rescuer. Now that he mentioned it, he did looks kinda familiar. Dino remembered seeing this guy before from a distance. He remembered running to follow him on the back of his pteranodon…where was that again? But there was another place Dino had seen this man. He was on an old recording of a fossil battle that Todd had shown him.

"YOU'RE JOE WILDWEST!" Todd yelled. Somewhere in the distance, the allosaurus roared in response.

"I'm surprised you know my handle kid." Joe commented, tipping his hat.

"Are you kidding? You're world famous!" Dino wouldn't be surprised if Todd jumped out of his skin at this point, "there isn't a fossil fighter around who doesn't know who you are!"

"Ah, so you two boys are fossil fighters?"

"Yep! I'm Todd and that's Dino. We're both gonna be competing in the caliosteo cup. We were up here to get him some vivosaurs but…" the allosaurus roared again, this time it was much louder.

"That allosaurus is madder than a sack full o' hornets." Joe commented, "tell ya what. How about one of you two small fries take down that allosaurus in my stead? It seems like a good grudge match."

"Small fry?" Dino raised an eyebrow, but Todd was positively ecstatic.

"Of course! But," Todd's face saddened, "I didn't bring my vivosaurs."

"I guess I'll do it then." Dino shrugged, "seems like a good warmup."

"Are you sure Dino?" Todd asked, clearly concerned, "your relationship with your Vivosaur isn't really that….optimal."

"Todd, I almost got eaten earlier today. I'm not gonna pass this up." Joe laughed.

"I like your attitude small fry! Now go out there and get er' done!" Dino nodded and walked back up the hill. Sure enough, the allo was there, knocking down a tree with its tail. Dino moved behind a tree and pulled out his Dino medal.

"Alright, listen here," Dino hated talking to an inanimate object, but Todd said that vivosaurs understand English, "here's how this is gonna go down. I'm gonna throw you as hard as I can at that thing and you're gonna show your face for once and fight. Got it? Good." Dino moved out from behind the tree. He pulled back his arm and beamed it at the allo. It flashed white for a moment…then immediately petered our and hit the allo with a soft "tink" noise. The allo turned towards Dino and growled.

"Oh for god's sake." Dino darted out of the way just before the allo crashed down on top of him.

"C'mon, ya big pointy asshole! Do something!" The words were out of Dino's mouth before he knew it. He didn't know how or why, but somehow he knew that those words would be enough.

"….POINTY?!" The voice from before thundered loudly, it gave Dino a headache, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING POINTY?!"

"You!" Dino yelled back.

"…..GGGGGRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!" A massive blinding light erupted from behind allo and a massive vivosaur emerged. It was a subdued mahogany color, almost grey. Giant green crystals adorned the creature as armor. It's massive mouth was like a crocodile's; displaying over 200 teeth, each the size of knives. The creature rose up and pointed a giant clawed arm at Dino.

"YOU…" Dino now knew that the voice was coming from inside his own head. "CALL ME POINTY ONE MORE TIME. SEE WHAT HAPPENS."

"…you…talk." Dino took several steps back before falling over, "…..how?"

"You know what, after being inside a cramped medal for….how long has it been?" The vivosaur looked down at his wrist, as if he had a watch, "you know what? It Doesn't matter how long it's been, I'm just not in the mood to explain my whole shtick to yo-…..you can hear me?" Dumbfounded, Dino nodded.

"Woah, that's new." The vivosaur literally sat down and assumed the "thinker" position, "that makes you the second person in history to actually understand me. Good job kid."

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU TALK?!"

"Like I said, not in the mood to tell my life story. Give it some time." The allo Apparently got tired of being ignored. It charged at Dino with its jaws open, ready to swallow him whole. Dino was about to jump out of the way, but before he could move, his vivosaur grabbed allo by the tail.

"Sir, I will fight you in a minute. Right now I am having a conversation. So wait your turn." The allo gave the vivosaur a look before continuing to try and rush at Dino. The vivosaur sighed and, as easily as swatting a fly, threw allo so high into the air that Dino could no longer see it. A few seconds later, a loud thud echoed from a kilometer away.

"…Jesus." Was all Dino could muster up to say.

"No, not Jesus. I'm Spinax. Still your lord and savior though." Spinax returned to his Dino medal, "so, what's your name kid?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because we're pretty much stuck with each other for while, at least until I can find my original owner. So we might as well get acquainted."

"Dino!" Todd called from a distance. Dino turned to see him and Joe walking up the hill. Well, Joe was walking. Todd was full on sprinting.

"Now that I think about it, I totally could've crushed him in that race," Dino thought to himself.

"Oh man Dino, that was totally insane!" Todd was back to jumping out of his skin, "you're definitely all geared up for tomorrow with a powerhouse vivosaur like that!"

"Aha!" Spinax shouted, I have cleverly deduced that your name is Dino."

"No dip Sherlock."

"Thank you very much Watson. Now, blonde over here is talking about a fight right? Sounds like fun."

"Ye' sure are something else, small fry." Joe's comment snapped Dino back to reality.

"Oh uh, yeah."

"Can't wait to see what you two boys can do in my tournament. I'll see ya there!" Joe topped his hat before walking away.

"Oh man," Todd was practically swooning, "I wanna be just as good a fighter as he is."

"Well, I guess we'll find out at the tournament." Once again, words simply flowed out of Dino's mouth.

"That's the spirit!" Todd gave Dino a pat on the shoulder, "I knew you'd get on board!"

"Dear revival machine, you sound just like him," spinax commented.

"….revival machine?"

"Long story kid."

Done! Out of all the relationships between characters I've created, I think Dino and Todd is shaping up to be one of my favorites.

Spinax:….I don't like him.

Why?

Spinax: because he reminds me too much of a young me

Doesn't Hunter remind you of you?

Spinax: Yeah, but at least Hunter was a goofball. Dino's got attitude and a potty mouth to boot.

…fair point.

Dino:…where the hell am I?

Spinax: see what I mean? This kind thinks he can just walk Into the office like it's no big deal.

Anyway, time for the question of the day: what are your predictions for Dino's character? I'd love to hear what you guys come up with.

Spinax: that's cross for "I have no idea where this character is going, please give me ideas I can pass off as my own"

Hahahahahahahashutup. Thanks for reading!

Dino: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!


	44. Chapter 43

Journey of the soul chapter 43

Okay, how about this one. Knock knock

Spinax: who's there?

Old lady

Spinax: old lady who?

Why are you yodeling?

Spinax: I wasn't yod…..oh, that's a good one. Alright, my turn. What do you call a three jumped camel?

Oh, I know this one. Pregnant.

Spinax: nope

Then what do you call a three humped camel?

Spinax: a genetic mutation that has given the offspring Down syndrome due to an extra chromosome.

…..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Spinax: I know right? Knocks 'em dead every time… oh hey, the chapter started.

….I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

A strong breeze kept the waves churning as the ship cruised across the water. Fortunately, the boat was large enough to not be affected aside from a bit of rocking. Unfortunatley, rocking is enough to make Dino lean over the side of the railing and empty his stomach.

"HHRROOAARGGH!"

"Seriously, you've already thrown up three times today," spinax chided, "it's not even time for lunch yet!"

"Shut up," Dino sat down on the deck and pulled his goggles over his eyes, "I haven't been on a boat in….a while."

"Aye' matey, ye' need yer' sea legs before ye' be sailing straight."

"Why do you feel the need to do stupid impressions every other sentence?"

"Why do you feel the need to kill any source of fun in the area?" Spinax did a perfect impression of Dino's voice, "now shut up before I throw your medal into the ocean."

"Hey Dino!" Todd cut off Dino's train of thought before he could yell at spinax, "we're almost there!" Todd walked over and pointed off in the distance. Dino looked over and saw a small line of land on the horizon. The only thing giving away the island's real purpose were the pterosaurs flying around it. Vivosaur island, where the preliminaries of the caliosteo cup are being held.

"You ready to kick some tail?" Spinax growled.

"Whatever."

When they finally landed, Dino was one of the first ones off the boat. He sat on a nearby bench by a fountain and waited. Todd was much more lax about getting off the boat, but Dino didn't mind. It gave him a minute to stop his stomach from turning itself inside out. He turned his gaze over to the three buildings further up the paved walkway. One of said buildings had railing shaped like jagged teeth leading up to it.

"That's the fossil stadium." Spinax commented, "and to the right of that is the fossil center. Further down is the hotel, which we'll probably be staying in for the time we're here. Any questions?"

"How do you know all this crap?"

"Didn't I already tell you this is We're I used to live?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, I did. And to be honest, I don't really remember anything past leaving here. So here's where you do your part of the bargain." Dino rolled his eyes. The deal was that if he would help spinax find his previous owner, then spinax would fight for Dino until he could stand on his own two feet when it came to fossil battles.

"Alright then, where's the first stop down memory lane?" Dino mocked.

"The first stop for my hand is gonna be upside your head if you keep talking like that." Spinax mocked back, "I can go toe to toe with the best buttheads in the world kid, you don't scare me."

"Whatever."

"Kids these days, I swear."

"Hey Dino!" Todd called Dino over to a table under an umbrella. As he walked over, Todd was unfurling a large paper that he got from a receptionist.

"Okay, so we're gonna be here for two days." Todd pointed across the road to the fossil stadium. "Each day we'll do two battles in there. Each fight is one vivosaur each so you don't need to worry about getting new vivosaurs. We win all four and then we get to be in the cup. Easy as pie."

"But I don't like pie." Spinax commented."

"Shut up."

"Ooh, only missing one word and then that would've been perfect."

"What the hell are you on about?"

"Dino?" Todd snapped in front of his face, "you okay? You're staring off into space." Dino blinked and shrugged.

"I'm fine, let's just go before I change my mind about this whole thing."

"Alright, let's go get checked in then!" Todd led the way as the two walked towards the hotel. Spinax spent the time pointing historic landmarks (according to him)

"And there's the scuff mark I made on the pavement when I almost rolled into the ocean," spinax rambled, "And over there is a bent part of the stadium wall that I got knocked into. Ah, good times."

"Oh hey look, literally anything else," Dino pointed to a small group in hoods moving towards the stadium, "cultists."

"What? Oh, those guys. Hey, check this out." Spinax took in a deep breath, YO LIZARDS!" Almost immediately, everyone in the group turned to face Dino. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's the holdup Dino?" Todd turned around and looked at the scene laid out in front of him.

"Uh, can we help you?" Todd asked nervously. One by one, the group removed their hoods.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Dino physically fell over in shock. Each of the people in the hoods had blue skin, strange face markings, and pointed ears along with odd colored hair. He even saw a tail swish underfoot. Todd had a much more subdued reaction.

"Oh cool, Dinaurians!"

"Damn it Todd! Be more shocked!"

"What?"

"Nothing!" Dino quickly got back up.

"Greetings," one of the Dinaurians bowed slightly, "I apologize for alarming you." He extended his hand, which was also blue.

"Uh, no worries." Dino shook the Dinaurian's hand.

"Okay, quick rundown." Spinax coached, "Dinaurians are aliens that are like humanoid dinosaurs. The DNA difference between a Dinaurian and a human is less than .001% so they look a lot like us. Their planet was destroyed by a monster named Guhnash, who was killed by my previous owner and me. Your welcome. Now they live here and are kinda part of society now even though it's their fault Guhnash wanted to munch on earth in the first place."

"Wait, what?"

"Long story, any questions?"

"What's the name of your previous owner."

"Need to know basis. You'll know 'em when ya see 'em."

"Excuse me," the Dinaurian interrupted, "but might I have your names?"

"Oh sure, I'm Todd and this is Dino." Todd answered, were you guys headed down to the arena?"

"Indeed, we wish to see the battles taking place there. It was your friend who caught our attention, so we stopped."

"That makes sense, Dino's hair is kinda like a giant spiky target on his head."

"Shut up Todd." Dino rolled his eyes.

"One word off! One word off!" Spinax chanted.

"Anyway. Why the hoods?" Dino questioned.

"Ah, well we were aware of newcomers to the island being here and didn't want to have many reactions like your surrounding us."

"Why not use your human disguise holograms instead?" Todd suggested, "you guys still have those things, right?"

"We decided against it as we are trying to live honest lives here." Dino rubbed his temples, trying to make sense of this moon speak.

"Wait a minute!" Spinax shouted, "great plan forming!" Not only did Dino get taken aback by the noise, but it seemed the Dinaurians also noticed it.

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention that. Dinaurians can hear me talking to you. And since the one in the front and back know me, this could be interesting."

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?!"

"Was too busy formulating genius plan. Speaking of plan, you should definitely say this to that one over there who looks like he has a stick up his ass." As they talked, another Dinaurian walked up. This one got a little too close for comfort, Dino was even more uncomfortable when she put her hands on his cheeks and stared into his eyes.

"Uh….can I help you?"

"Oh hey, it's Duna." Spinax commented.

"Who?"

"Previous owner's girlfriend."

"You're previous owner was a Dinaurian?"

"Nope."

"…bestia-"

"Only I can make fun of it." Dino looked down at Duna.

"Hunter?" She whispered.

"No, Dino. Who's Hunter?"

"Oh Dear." Duna quickly slid away from Dino, "I apologize. I mistook you for someone else."

"You have a very similar look to someone we know very well." The Dinaurian with the stick up his ass had walked over at this point, "I am raptin and this is Duna. She was very good friends with-"

"Hunter Cloud." Todd finished, "the guy who saved the world."

"Your previous owner has a dumb name." Dino commented.

"I know right. Flip it backwards and you've got the worlds lamest meteorologist nickname."

"Hey, what happened to this Hunter guy? Is he around here?" At this, the Dinaurians quickly shuffled away. But not before Dino saw a tear roll down Duna's cheek."

"What did I say?" Todd shook his head.

"I'll tell you once we're in the hotel." They silently walked into the hotel and checked in with no fuss. The elevator ride was painstakingly silent. Even spinax, who was probably the most excited to learn about Hunter's fate, didn't utter a word. Then walked to a green door one door from the elevator entrance. There was a bunk bed and a small couch with a tv sitting on a dresser. Dino sat down on the couch while Todd sat on a bed.

"So, Hunter Cloud. Saved the world and yet no one wants to talk about him." Dino gave Todd a look, "what's the story."

"Well, a month after the whole Guhnash thing, a police report was filed in secret. In the same town we lived in.

"Mason?"

"Yep. The report was about a psychopath child that had murdered his parents."

"The Mason maniac." Even Dino knew what that was. Todd nodded.

"Turns out, the little boy who killed his parents looked a lot like the boy responsible for saving the world. Hunter was brought in for questioning….but."

"But?"

"He knocked out the guards holding him and escaped. Completely went off the grid for months. Police searched and the charges of resisting arrest stacked onto murder. Everyone he had ties to were searched. And that's when they found the letter."

"Letter?"

"I'll pull it up on the computer. It's everywhere on the net nowadays. Most people call it the "Cloud Letter""Todd went over to the computer on the desk and typed : Cloud letter. What pulled up was a page full of words.

"Let me know when you're done reading," Todd stepped away.

"Have fun with that, I'm gonna take a nap," spinax yawned.

"Aren't you the one who wants to find out what happened to him?"

"I was here for this part! I'm not in the mood for throwback Thursday right now." Dino rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the letter.

"Dear everyone.

First off, if your reading this , then that means that Guhnash is dead. Yay. Drinks on me and all that jazz. But that also means that I'm dead, so you might need to put those drinks on my tab. Anyway, I wrote this for everyone I know. Not just because they need to know my story, but because I need to pour my heart out to something."

"I'm Not Human. Makes total sense if you think about, no human could be missing this many brain cells. I'm a human/Dinaurian hybrid made by Dinaurians to collect the idols and help destroy the human race. I'm kinda like Duna in that sense. For a while I didn't know this, but it was easier to come to terms with than this other bombshell I'm about to drop. I don't have a soul. Remember when I went into withdrawal for like, a week? That's why. I didn't tell anyone about these secrets because guys wouldn't believe me and B. I was ashamed. I was an empty husk that didn't belong in this world. A filthy half breed, as Raptin would put it, with no purpose. I thought I knew what I was doing when in reality, I didn't even know myself. But, there was one person who always stood by me. Now that I think about it, he's probably the reason I didn't end up going insane."

"Spinax. Yeah, did I mention that my spinax is an evolved intelligent seed of life that I can communicate with in my mind since I'm a modified Human? In hindsight, probably should've led with that. Yeah, of all the vivosaurs that I could've revived, I get stuck with a tornado hurling psychopath. So I'm all, I'm kind of messed up. Spinax has helped me through a lot just by being there, cracking bad jokes and doing strange impressions of people I don't know. I owe a lot to him, but I think bringing his Sorry tail back to life makes us even. Anyway, I guess the takeaway is that I should've been a better friend to all of you. I'm sorry. But maybe this can make up for it. Probably not. Crap, I'm being negative again. I'm just gonna skip to the important stuff.

Dr. Diggins: lose the caveman cloak, you look like Fred flinstone

Mr. Richmond: my life savings are in my hotel room under the dresser. Can you use them to renovate the stadium? That's thing can't handle falling vivosaurs.

Holt: building mine cars won't help you be a better fossil fighter. Sorry 'bout that.

Alvis: I don't even know where you are right now but congratulations, you made the cut. All I have to say to you is this: KXZ

Rosie: denture sharks can't actually bite, their teeth are too big

Dynal: stay on earth please. your people need a home and if anyone has a problem with that, then ignore them. People are afraid of things they don't understand, but they'll come around eventually.

Raptin: you tried to kill me

You tried to kill my friends

You almost ended up killing everyone

And to be honest, you're kind of a prick.

Eh, no one's perfect.

Bartholomew Bullwort: spinax says hi, dickhead

Duna: Thanks for telling me who I am. I hope you smile when you think of me. I L-"

The final sentence was covered by an ink blotch.

"So this guy left this, and left for good. What's the rest of the story."

"Well, He was found at the caliosteo islands."

"There you go spinax, now we just need to-"

"Over a pile of blood and a bloody knife."

"….what?"

"Dino." Todd looked down Steadily, "Hunter Cloud committed suicide. He cut out his soul and ripped it out."

Spinax let out an ear piercing, heart breaking shriek.


	45. Chapter 44

Journey of the soul chapter 44

New chapter! Completely new chapter! Nothing about the past chapter that needs to be addressed!

Spinax:….I hate you with a passion that spans multiple universes.

Wow, that's a few more universes than most people's hate for me spans.

Spinax: you killed my best friend, my hate is justified.

I didn't "kill" him, plot convenience "killed" him. Anyway, he's "dead". So get over it, it's been like, eight seconds already.

Spinax: Wait a minute….why do you keep making air quotes?

I don't own fossil fighters! Enjoy!

"Spinax mega!" Spinax roared as it grabbed a cerato in its jaws. The crowd cheered as spinax tossed the smaller vivosaur into the air.

"Now send 'em packing!" With a burst of wind from his feet, spinax shot upwards after the cerato. With another roar, he whirled around slammed his opponent back down to earth with his tail. Cerato disappeared in a flash of white and spinax growled in silent triumph. Dino grimaced, despite just winning the third of the four matches required to pass the preliminaries. He retrieved spinax's dino medal and slowly walked back down the hall from whence he came.

"Good job Dino!" Todd met him in the lobby of the fossil stadium, "Just one more win for each of us and then it's off to the caliosteo cup!" Dino rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, you know you're excited."

"Shut up Todd."

"I'll take that as a yes, now follow me! Lunch is on me today!"

"When is it not on you?" Dino grumbled, "If it were on me then we wouldn't be eating."

"All the more reason to buy you lunch, now let's go!" Dino scoffed, but still followed Todd nonetheless. They left the fossil stadium and out to the streets of Vivosaur Island. The guild area was filled with participants, all hungry from recent battles. Dino sat down on a park bench while Todd went to a nearby vendor. He amused himself by making a reflection of light off the sun with spinax's dino medal.

"Please stop," spinax muttered quietly, "you're getting the sun in my eyes." Dino said nothing, but still stopped and set the medal down on his lap. Spinax hadn't been himself since the news about his partner's fate was shared. Dino knew better than to argue with spinax, even he knew that you should let grievers grieve.

"I'm not grieving, I'm thinking." Spinax had read his mind again, "none of this makes sense. Hunter wouldn't kill himself, much less rip out his soul."

"Maybe he was depressed."

"He wouldn't be. You read the letter, I would've been there for him."

"What if you weren't there?"

"Hmm?"

"What if Hunter killed himself because he went through something traumatic and you weren't there to help?" Spinax growled.

"Are you saying I would abandon my best friend and let him die?!"

"Calm your ass down. I found you in a box under a dresser in a deserted house, and Hunter was 4000 miles away when he died. You said yourself that you have no memory of the last four months, so anything is possible."

"So your saying I was kidnapped?" A hint of spinax's old self was in that sentence.

"Surprise!" Todd interrupted Dino's train of thought by shoving an ice cream cone up His mouth. Dino spat out the cone, but spinax kept in afloat In the air just long enough for him to grab it again.

"Never waste perfectly good frozen milk." Spinax hummed.

"What's with the ice cream?" Dino asked, "I thought we were having lunch."

"What's a better lunch than ice cream?" Todd attacked his own ice cream. Dino grumbled to himself about not getting proper food, but didn't argue. Free food is free food.

"So," Todd asked after a few minutes of silent eating, "have you got any idea about who your final opponent is going to be?"

"Don't know, don't really care."

"Apparently, I have to fight this guy named Alvis. Wasn't that the name of your friend from back in Mason?"

"As a matter of fact, it's the very one and the same." Both boys turned to see Alvis eating his own ice cream on the other side of the bench, "pleasure to see you two again."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dino almost shouted. This earned them some strange looks and glares from mothers as they covered their children's ears.

"Same as you boys, I'm competing in the preliminaries."

"I didn't think you were that into fossil battles Alvis." Todd commented, Dino noticed that he was suddenly very nervous.

"Looks can be deceiving, young man," Alvis laughed, "don't think I'll go easy on ya in the ring today."

"Oh man," Todd started sweating.

"Is it to hot for ya, buddy?" Dino sneered.

"Just a little bit. But you should be more worried about how Alvis is holding up in this heat." Todd chuckled nervously. At any rate, he was right. Alvis's long coat and sleeves were not suited for the weather. Even he shades looked like they were melting.

"You don't need to worry about me Dino," Alvis laughed, "it'll take a lot more than this to put someone like me down!" He laughed again. Suddenly spinax began talking a mile a minute.

"Thisguyknowsmorethanheslettingonhewasthererightbeforehunterandiwenttothedinaurianshipandshowedupagaintogiveyouthekeytotheplacethatiwasstuckinithinkheknowssomethingaboutwhathappenedbutheisntsayinganything."

"….what?"

"Y'know," Alvis paused, "on second thought, maybe I should find some shade. The heat is making me hear things." Dino's eyes widened. He could've sworn he just saw Alvis wink through his sunglasses.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you in the arena Todd." Alvis waved as he walked off, "I'd ask you to cheer for me but that seems unprofessional doesn't it?" Dino rolled his eyes while Todd chuckled.

"Your friend is a really cool guy Dino."

"He's NOT my friend. I don't even know how he knows me." Todd responded by laughing harder, which just infuriated Dino even more. Suddenly, a voice shouted out on the intercom.

"The fourth and final round of the caliosteo cup preliminaries is will begin shortly. All participants please make your way to the fossil stadium."

"Alright!" Todd practically unhinges his jaw as he swallowed the rest of his ice cream, "let's roll!" Dino stared in disbelief for a second before catching up. Todd jogged to the fossil stadium and almost hit the automatic doors before they had a chance to open. Dino followed at a slower pace and almost had the automatic doors close on him. They entered the crowded common room and waited for their participant numbers to be called.

"How's your brain?" Dino asked.

"Frozen." Todd rocked back and forth in place, "very, very frozen." Dino looked around. Seems like every person here were dressed like they just walked out of a cave. Why would someone need to bring a pickax to a fossil battle?

"You'd be surprised." Spinax commented, "these people do strange things."

"Like what?"

"Eat raw snakes, eat raw sharks, let their soul go crazy. The latter causes a massive power up and makes fire shoot out of your eye."

"…..WHAT."

"I call it super soul."

"Oh wait, Todd showed me that yesterday. We call it Soulflame."

"Well good for you, your wrong." Two numbers appeared on the monitor overhead: 27 and 84. Todd gulped and held up a card with the number 84 on it.

"Well, wish me luck!" Todd tried to stand tall as he walked out of the common room. Dino soon followed after. He walked pass the reception desk and up a staircase to a massive line of bleachers. The crowd was already blaring with noise even though the match hadn't started yet. Dino climbed up to the highest bleacher, stuck his hands in his pockets, and tried to ignore the noise. Admittedly, Dino wanted to see the fight. Not because of Todd or anything, but because Alvis seemed like someone who needed to be watched.

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself," spinax muttered, "just admit that you've made a friend already."

"I don't have friends. I'm fine by myself, thank you very much."

"Yeah, there was another guy I knew who thought he didn't need anyone. He ended up getting frozen In ice." Dino scoffed, but didn't continue the argument. The crowd roared even louder as Todd and Alvis entered the arena. The announcer babbled some nonsense, trying to hype up the fight.

"Stego!" Todd called out his vivosaur. Alvis seemed to ponder something for a moment before letting his own Dino medal roll towards stego. An Allo appeared in a flash of light and roared, drowning out the crowd and making Dino wish he had stayed at the hotel room.

"Spike tail!" Stego came out swinging. It slammed its tail repeatedly against allo. The larger vivosaur appeared to t be taking damage, but that didn't stop it from rushing at stego and head butting it backwards.

"Wind spines!" Stego used its tail to steady itself before firing compressed bursts of wind at allo. Allo stumbled backwards and fell over, struggling to right itself.

"Something's up," Dino said to the only one who could hear him, "allo's not fighting back. And if he's actually taken damage, he's not acting like it."

"Makes sense," spinax sent a mental image of him nodding, "allo's been holding back. Alvis is obviously either planning to throw the match or completely destroy."

"I don't think the whole "dominating force" is the old man's style." At that moment. Allo let out a piercing shriek, stunning stego and giving everyone a headache.

"See?" Dino continued, "he should've attacked right there, or at least should be attacking after the shout."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Spinax snorted, "isn't your battle record about 3?"

"It's 4. I just know, okay?" Dino didn't have the patience to continue the conversation. Partly because stego had gone on the offensive again and he wanted to watch, but mostly because he had no idea how he knows these battle tactics. They just popped into his head.

"Whirling dash!" Stego curled into a ball and spun into allo. Instead of faking the hit however, allo opened his mouth and let out an earth shaking roar.

"I've quite enjoyed this battle Todd!" Alvis called out, "but I think its time for our skirmish to come to a close!" Wind whipped around Alvis as he slowly removed his glasses. His cloak billowed and the ground below him started to smoke. Allo's forehead crest flowed a shining bright white as it roared. When the wind subsided, the once screeching crowd was dead silent. Dino stood up and watched, mesmerized by the white flames that sprouted from Alvis's eye.

"WHAT'D I TELL YOU!?" Spinax roared triumphantly.

"I didn't understand what you told me moron. Speaking of which, WHAT THE HELL?!" In the brief videos that Todd had showed Dino of Soulflame, it seemed much less imposing than this. Dino could literally feel the pressure emanating from Alvis and Allo.

"HOW CAN HE DO THAT?!" Dino almost yelled.

"HOW CAN YOU DO THAT?!" Todd yelled.

"Impaired minds think alike." Spinax commented, "also, HOW CAN HE DO THAT?!"

"Its time for a real challenge now Todd!" Alvis responded, clearly enjoying himself, "try to keep up!" The moment he said that, allo darted forward with lightning speed. Dino heard a crash and turned his head. Somehow, stego had ended up buried under rubble in the side of the wall. Allo was now cracking the floor underneath it as it stomped over and over.

"…WHAT. THE."

"Allo launches itself into the air, grabbed stego in its jaws, and flung it into the wall at a speed too fast to follow," spinax explained, "simple."

"HELL?!"

"You're being a little too redundant there pal." Stego struggled to right itself as allo snarled, showcasing a toothy grin.

"Now allo, give it a Soulflame, if you please."

"Hey! That's my move!" Spinax banged against the sides of Dino's mind. Allo lay out a stream of blazing white fire that would roast stego alive.

"Whirling dash! Get out of the way!" Stego launched itself forward with its tail and spun out of the way. It whirled toward allo, but allo unhinged its jaw a CAUGHT stego in its mouth.

"Now allo, let's-" suddenly, the flames engulfing Alvis's eye flickered for a second. He stumbled and fell to his knees. Allo lost the luster from Soulflame and let go of stego, collapsing into a heap on the floor. It disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Hah! Niiiiice," spinax smirked, "he burned through his energy too fast on purpose to let Todd win."

"What? Why?" As the announcer proclaimed Todd as the winner, Alvis began to leave."

"DONTLETHIMLEAVEDONTLETHIMELEAVEDONTLETHIMLEAVE!" Spinax screeched.

"Alright, I get it. Jesus, calm down." Dino clambered down the bleachers, shoving through the massive crowd as people took a short break between fights. He went back down to the reception area and found Alvis just before he went out the door.

"Oh hello," he said, as if nothing just happened, "what can I help you with Dino?"

"First, you can explain what the hell that was. Second, you can explain how you can hear THIS asshole." He held up spinax's dino medal, "and third, you can explain what I have to do with any of this. You Obviously know way much more than I do."

"Of course. You know, I've should've told you this sooner."

"Then why the hell didn't you?"

"You never asked, now follow me!" Alvis led the way to a bench, Dino seethed internally as he sat down. Spinax was bouncing around again and wouldn't settle.

"So! I believe you wanted to know "what the hell that was" first." Alvis leaned back and removed his glasses. As suspected, his sand colored eyes had a milky tint to them that indicated that he was blind, "I used what you call Soulflame. It really is simple. All you have to do is expand your soul by feeding it large amounts of energy. A human soul is actually a vessel for a certain kind of energy. When that energy is released, it results in massive power. Quite shocking, isn't it?"

"…so…it's like an fork in a microwave?" Spinax suggested, turn up the heat too much and it catches fire."

"In a sense, yes. And I believe that brings us to your second point."

"Hold up, you haven't explained how YOU can use Soulflame."

"That's a story for another time. Now, onto how I can hear spinax. That is also for another time, next question!" Dino smacked his head and groaned. This guy is impossible.

"Alright, last question. You know more about me than I do. Who am I?"

"Dino, you have a soul."

"No shit, what about it?"

"Language!" Spinax interrupted.

"A soul is your other half," Alvis said without his usual joking voice, "that's all you need to know for now." The words sent shivers up Dino's spine, "honestly, I'm surprised you weren't worried enough about the entrance to find me."

"Entrance fee?"

"You didn't know? Everyone in the stadium must hand the receptionist some cards if they want to fight." Alvis began rubbing his fingers together.

"WHAT? Why didn't you tel-…I didn't ask." Alvis nodded. Dino felt his shoulders sag.

"Craphole."

"That's a new one."

Spinax commented, "anyway, why are you worried? don't we know where some money is?"

"That you do." Alvis laughed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to the caliosteo island to train my apprentice."

"Apprentice?"

"I have hobbies, and I know you'll like them when you meet them." With that, Alvis walked away. Dino made a quick mental note about where Alvis was headed. Caliosteo islands….he definitely had to win the next fight now.

"And that means money," spinax finished for him, "now let's go raid that hotel room!" As much as Dino hated it, he agreed with spinax.

Done! I was originally going to release one big chapter, but I think two smaller chapters fits better. Especially considering the amount of time it takes to write this stuff.

Dino: why don't you just write in advance?

Because a good writer never plans ahead. It's called creativity.

Dino: it's called stupidity

Speaking of stupidity, where's spinax?

Dino: he locked himself in the other room and refuses to come out.

Sounds about right. Thanks for reading!


	46. Chapter 46

Journey of the soul chapter 45

…

Dino: it's not that hard to understand.

…..I still don't get it.

Dino: this is literally the seventh time we've gone over this. Think of it like humans playing god.

Okay okay. So… god creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys god. Man creates dinosaur. Dinosaurs eat man. Women inherits the earth.

Dino: no, no, no. Man creates more dinosaurs, who then eat man again. Dinosaurs inherit part of the earth. Man creates more dinosaurs AGAIN. Dinosaurs eat man women still hasn't inherited the earth.

What about the part when man loses soul. Man regains soul. And man commands dinosaurs?

Dino: …remind me never to explain the plot of a movie to you ever again.

Dully noted. Oh hey, the chapter started.

Dino: then why the hell am I still trapped in this tiny room with a psychopath and a dinosaur?

Spinax: SHUT UP! IMNOTCRYINGYOURCRYING!

Your still here because I don't own fossil fighters. Enjoy!

"Under the dresser. Under the dresser." Dino rummaged around Hunter's old hotel room, sticking his hand under the large clothes dresser in the bedroom, "I still can't believe that the door was open."

"I'm not." Spinax replied.

"Why? Do the people here not know how keys work?" Dino mocked.

"No, the PEOPLE here do." Dino ignored spinax and kept groping through the dark area underneath the dresser. His hand passed through air.

"Your sure it's under here?" Dino checked with spinax.

"No, I'm not. Hunter was just lying in the last letter he ever wrote," spinax shot back, "maybe MOVING the dresser instead of laying on the floor would work better. Just an idea." Dino rolled his eyes, but complied anyway. He shifted the dresser against the back wall and looked at the revealed spot. Nothing.

"Hmm."

"Maybe mr. Richmond already cleaned out all the cash?" Spinax suggested.

"No, look here." Dino pointed to a pattern of small indents on the carpet, "that's not normal,"

"You think it's some kind of puzzle," spinax stated.

"Don't you already know what this is?"

Dino questioned, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"Maybe, but that would take all the fun out of it. Just like when I played catch with my dad 72 million years ago. He threw a carcass at me and then left…and never came back….and then he died."

"Hah! your dad's dead."

"So's yours"

"Hah! Probably." Dino stuck his fingers into the little divots and pulled. A square piece of the carpet came up with his fingers and revealed a rectangular safe. Dino put down the carpet square and lifted up the safe.

"It's heavy." He commented.

"It's metal, metal is heavy."

"That's not what I meant, moron. It's heavier than a regular safe this size. That means there's something in it."

"Makes sens-…how do you know how heavy a safe should be?"

"How do you think I survive? Those rich snobs don't need the money anyway."

"…I'd make a Robin Hood joke here, but you'd probably steal from him too."

"If you're gonna tell me that the way I live is bad, then you can also tell me what I should do to fix it because no one's ever done that before." Dino looked at all sides of the safe. On the bottom, there was writing in large letters.

"Wait for the other half." Dino read aloud, "I no longer have any guilt stealing from these psychos." He fiddled with the lock on the safe. After trying a few combinations, he grew impatient and grabbed a banged the safe against the dresser. The lock flew off and went right out the window.

"Ow!" Said someone from the streets below. Dino opened the safe. There was a large envelope inside that was half open. Through the opening Dino could see a stack of money.

"Nice," Dino grabbed the envelope and stuffed it into his pocket, "See spinax? Easy as pie."

"But I don't like pie, and there's one problem."

"What?" Dino was answered by a metal object striking his side. Spinax tried not to laugh as Dino tumbled across the room, pin-balling against the walls.

"Freakin' damn cheapshoting asshole!" Dino raged as he banged his head against a wall. His skull rattled as he stood up.

"How's the brain damage?" Spinax asked.

"THERE'S A VOICE IN MY HEAD!"

"Yep, that's about right." Dino felt the same steel object prod him In the back.

"Turn around and put your hands up." Said a distinctly female voice. Dino turned slowly and raised an eyebrow at the sight before him. Duna, the Dinaurian girl from yesterday, was pointing what looked like a pickax with folded edges at him.

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention that Duna lives here," spinax mused.

"Oh really?! I hadn't noticed." Dino rolled his eyes and put his hands up.

"What did you take from the safe?" Duna pulled a small trigger on the pickax. The folded blades immediately snapped to their normal position.

"Uh…money?" Dino gave her a quizzical look, "what else would I take?" For a moment, Duna looked relieved.

"So…you gonna report me to the police? That's usually what happens."

"Of course not, the officers here are hopeless fools," Duna set the edge of the pickax blade against Dino's chin, "so, thief, what do you want with the money?"

No point in lying, "I was trying to get it to pay for the entrance fee over at the fossil stadium." Duna shoved the pickax in Dino's face. A bruise began to form on his cheek.

"Do not lie to me, there is no entrance fee."

"What?" Dino thought back to what Alvis said. He would have to pay….for the fourth match….when the first three cost nothing.

"Give it a minute." Spinax tapped his foot.

"….THAT BASTARD."

"There you go." Dino pulled the money out of his pocket and threw it on to the floor.

"You can have your money," Dino attempted to leave, shaking his head. He got tricked, by a blind man no less.

"The irony is not lost," Spinax commented in a British accent, "your pride, however, is gone."

"And then there is that matter." Duna slammed the handle into Dino's gut, "you have spinax with you."

"Look, if this is about ownership rights, you can have him along with whatever prize money I get from qualifying and we can pretend this whole thing never happened," Dino pulled out the spinax's medal, "he's kind off a smartass anyway."

"Said the pot to the kettle," spinax replied. Duna appeared lost in thought for a moment before forcing Dino over to the wall. If he tried to run for it, she could easily clothesline him with the pickax.

"First, explain how you broke in."

"Simple, you left the door unlocked." Duna did a terrible job of trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Where did you find spinax?"

"Small town called mason. It's on the mainland." Duna took a deep breath.

"How can you understand spinax?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Who told you to come here?"

"Technically your boyfriend's letter did. But I got the idea from some geezer who pretends to know me."

"Oh dear," Duna sighed, "you know Alvis."

"…how do you know him?" Duna gave Dino a steely glare, "never mind."

"Can I ask a question?" Spinax chimed in, "ask her why there's no chocolate milk in the fridge." Dino ignored spinax and instead took a mire tactical approach.

"Look, I'm sorry I tried to steal from you. I was desperate and thought I needed the money, but I was lied to." He held his hands up, "I don't know how I can hear spinax and to be honest, all I really want to do right now is go kick alvis's ass for lying to me."

"I would advise against that," Duna warned, "Alvis is not one to be trifled with."

"Oh really? I find it hard to believe that a 5,000 year old man is dangerous."

"Alvis is not 5,000 years old."

"Obviously, that's the jo-"

"He's approximately 38 years, 6 months, and 2 weeks old."

"Nice try, I'm not falling for another trick so easily. Also, can I go now? I kinda have a match that's starting soon and-"

"Seeing as you currently posses spinax, it would be beneficial for you to shut your mouth and listen." Dino fell silent immediately.

"Hunter taught her that one." Spinax commented.

"So, Dino, correct? explain to me what is it you plan to do with spinax," Duna sat down on the bed, leaning on the pickax.

"Well, after we win the fourth preliminary, which we are supposed to be at by the way, I'm going to help spinax find Hunter because he is convinced that the guy who ripped out his own soul is still alive somewhere." Dino then proceeded to go through recent events, starting from the moment he met Alvis. It startled him that he could retell the past week in more detail than any other part of his life.

"I see," Duna rest her chin on her hand, "so alvis wanted you to come here. Perhaps that means this is that I should tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Alvis is not human." The last sentence hung in the air for a moment.

"…WHAT?!"

"You say what a lot," spinax interrupted, "it's not that surprising."

"YOU KNEW?!"

"Yep, he can hear me talk, he shows up exactly when he's needed, and can use soulflame. The criteria for those things only fit one category: human/Dinaurian hybrid." Dino just looked on in shock.

"I assume spinax has given you the details on Alvis's…condition."

"More or less…Dear god, this is one messed up world."

"Did Alvis day anything else told you? About anything?"

"Only vague prophetic crap. "Your soul is your other half." Crap like that." They lingered on that thought and Duna seemed to think to herself for a moment. Dino began to suspect that there wasn't something she was telling him.

"Is there a reason your telling all this to someone you barely know? I don't know if you realized but, I'm a thief."

"And a surprisingly lackluster one," Duna replied calmly, "your little "lock picking" strategy was what alerted me in the first place. If you were anything resembling perceptive, you would've seen the key on the top of the dresser."

"Too simple, I gotta have style in my heists."

"Oh? So you admit that you committed criminal activity?" Dino laughed. He was having fun talking to Duna.

"Well. Once you accept what you are, you become better than who you are."

"Hah! What idiot says that?" Spinax snorted with laughter, "sounds like something a drunk guy would say." Duna immediately went rigid and rushed over to the safe on the floor. She flipped it over a removed the bottom to reveal a secret compartment. In the compartment was a silver key with an ancient design.

"You need to come with me." Duna said, grabbing Dino's hand and holding it up.

"Woah! Hey! Wait a minute!" Dino dug his heels into the carpet, "where the hell do we need to rush off to! In case I haven't made my self PAINFULLY clear. I have a fight in like, two minutes!"

"I will see to your admission into the caliosteo cup, "Duna thought to herself for a moment, "in fact, I insist upon it." Dino nervously eyed the door. This Girl was obviously crazy. If she wanted to take him somewhere, he was a dead man. Still, curiosity never killed anyone, right?"

"There is so much wrong with you that it makes me look sane." Spinax shook his head, "I don't even wanna begin to try and explain your thought process."

"Then stay out off my head," Dino got up and turned to Duna, "you sure I'll still be able to compete?"

"Positive."

"…..alright fine. Let's get going before I change my mind."

"Excellent. Follow me." Dino tapped his foot in irritation in response to being ordered around. Nevertheless, he followed Duna out of the hotel room. Just as Dino was about to open the door, Todd rushed in. The door whipped open and cracked Dino on the head.

"Dino!" Todd was practically shouting, "Why are you napping on the floor?! You're fight starts in two minutes!" Todd jumped to emphasize his point.

"How did you find me?" Dino asked, rubbing the bruise that was forming on his head.

"Alvis told me. He said you went to Hunter Cloud's old hotel room to talk to his girlfriend about him," Todd then quickly turned to Duna, "nice to meet you, miss." He did a strange little bow.

"C'mon Dino, we gotta get you to the stadium!"

"Todd." Dino put his hands on Todd's shoulder's, "I'm in the middle of something really Important to me right now."

"Do not be distressed, "Duna assures Todd, "Dino will be a competitor in the caliosteo cup."

"You sure?" Todd asked, "what if you don't make it back in time from wherever you're going?" Todd's gaze shifted from Dino to Duna. "…..oh…..OH." Todd turned around and quickly walked out the door.

"What's he all flustered about?" Dino thought to himself. Spinax began to snicker.

"I mean, by human standards you're not half bad. but I don't think you're Duna's type, turtle dove."

"…TODD! GET BACK HERE!" Dino raced down the hall. He caught Todd just before he left the hotel.

"Look, Whatever you're thinking, stop it. There's nothing like that going on. NOT HAPPENIN'. EVER." The people in the lobby turned to look.

"Ok, if you say so," Todd shrugged.

"Is it really ok, cause' it doesn't look like you believe me."

"Dino, there's no shame here dude. Your secrets safe with me."

"Oh for god's sake. I'M NOT-"

(Spinax interrupted, "The following section was cut from the final draft on account of it not being appropriate for young viewers. Blame cross's best friend, Kris. He wrote this section.")

"-DUNA."

"…"

"…."

"….ok, I trust you."

"Really? It was that simple?"

"You just yelled….."that" in public. That's proof enough."

"….thanks Todd."

"No problem buddy."

"Just kiss already!" Someone near the elevator shouted.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Dino instinctively yelled back. He walked outside the hotel to join Duna, who had somehow gotten outside without him noticing. Todd waved as they walked towards the park area. Dino, reluctantly, waved back. Little did they know, that was the last time they would ever speak to each other again.

Done! As far as filler chapters go, I think this one turned out alright. Lots of lore dump with a cryptic ending at the end.

Dino:….Wow, you don't have any friends do you.

Of course I have friends! What makes you say that?

Dino: you read your own chapters

Why wouldn't I?...wait…do you guys not read my story?

Dino: stopped at about chapter 26. Honestly it's all been a downward spiral from there.

Spinax: Wait…..this is a story?

…..this is why I say thanks for reading.


	47. Chapter 47

Journey of the soul chapter 46

….No…..No….

Dino:…what's he doing?

Spinax: looking for new cover art, the old one is outdated.

Dino: no kidding, it's got a dead guy on it.

Spinax:…..

Dino: what?

Dude, too soon….no….ugh, definitely not.

Dino: Whatever, Just start the chapter.

…..no…..no…..no…..enjoy….nah. Oh, by the way. This is the last filler chapter before the champions stuff happens…..oh god, why would someone draw that!? (Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I accidentally deleted the first draft and had to retype it all)

Footsteps echoed throughout the Dinaurian ship. It was largely devoid of occupants as most Dinaurians had moved to the earth. The people who usually were on the ship were either a few human visitors or king Dynal speaking to the four idolcomps. Today, however, the only living beings in the Ship were moving towards the idolcomp room. Albeit, not very quickly because one of them was gawking at everything.

"So let me get this straight." Dino rubbed his temples, "you guys have a SPACESHIP, but you choose to live on earth?...willingly?"

"That is correct, yes," Duna nodded as she led Dino down a long hallway, "and my other questions?"

"WHYYY?!" Dino stared at the glowing green electric lines running on the ceiling, "the earth sucks! It's got disease, famine, poverty, global warming, and Rick Astley. Why would anyone willingly want to live there!"

"Because we were asked to stay," Duna replied quietly, "by Hunter."

"…..oh." Dino secretly thought to himself, "Hunter must've had a few screws loose then."

"You have no idea," spinax chimed in for the first time in a while, "who's rick astley?"

"It's better if you don't know."

"You know I'm never gonna give up until I find out so you might as well tell me." Dino stuck his fingers in his ears so he wouldn't hear spinax's nagging. Eventually. They reached a doorway that was covered by a shifting purple screen.

"A sinister feeling fills the air," spinax commented, "Are you prepared for battle?" Inside the room were four pedestals. Each of the pedestals had a medium sized clay idol, all of which had strange markings. In the back wall of the room was a much larger idol that was black in color and had traces of dust on it, as if it had been shut down for a long time.

"Greetings Duna." Dino jumped back. Who else was in the room?

"Hello," Duna nodded in the direction of the green idol.

"An unidentified Human has entered the room," another voice sounded off. This time it came from the direction of the blue idol, "identify yourself, human."

"…Talking statues, aliens, zombie dinosaurs, hybrid old guys, what's next on the list of science fiction? Global warming?!"

"…..global warming is a confirmed fact," the red idol replied.

"That's exactly what the government wants you to think so they can raise gas prices."

"…..analysis complete, welcome Hunter."

"No, Dino, not Hunter."

"Confirmed. Name: Hunter."

"…..and people think robots will overthrow the world." Dino turned to Duna, "Alright, so where's this thing I bend to see? The Sooner I get outta here, the better."

"Patience, you won't leave here feeling unsatisfied." Dino rolled his eyes. Duna held a hand in front of the far wall on the east. A piece of the wall seemed to melt away to reveal a doorway.

"Technology today." Dino growled.

"Have you ever considered keeping your thoughts to yourself?" Duna turned her head halfway back towards Dino.

"Hmph," looks like he just found the Dinaurian equivalent of "Shut the hell up". The doorway led to a long hall of glass containers with large machines next to each one. The containers were all extremely clear, like they had been cleaned recently. The dim lighting gave a eerie glow to each container. In the back of the hall was lit by a faded blue light. Dino wanted time to look at the words on the screens next to the containers, but Duna showed no sign of slowing down as she continued down the hall. The blue light began to grow brighter as the continued. They passed a screen that was lit green instead of red like all the others. Eventually, they reached the source of the blue light: a small burning ball of flame, about half the size of Dino's fist.

"Y'know, if you wanted to show me your future lamp, you could've waited."

"That," Duna gestured, "is a soul."

"Hunter's soul," Alvis materialized from the darkest corner of the room, "or, to be more precise, half of it."

"…first off: what. Second off:WHAT."

"Hello again Dino," Alvis laughed, "I'm glad you made it here in one piece." He eyed Duna in a way that made Dino nervous.

"Oh, I've seen this before," spinax chimed in, "this is the part where one of them pulls out a gun and steals your wallet."

"Shut up Spinax."

"No, I think spinax brings up a valid point," Alvis pretended to be thinking, "this does appear to be a shakedown, doesn't it? Of course, we aren't stealing your money, that'd be too ironic."

"Cut the crap," Dino pointed at the soul, "you Obviously were the one who wanted me here, but why even show me this? I've got nothing to do with Hunter."

"That is where you're wrong my friend," Alvis waggled a finger, "why don't you take a seat? You have a right to know what's going to happen." Alvis gestured to a small outcrop near the glass container. As soon as Dino sat down, he felt the heat emanating from "Half of Hunter's soul." It was a blistering heat that was almost unbearable.

"As you can see, Hunter's soul has ripped in half and left here," Alvis went on to explain, "but the question is, why? Simple, because I made him."

"Ha! Good one. Sorry pal, but you're not one for being honest."

"He is telling the truth," Duna spoke up, "he forced Hunter to rip out his soul. That put Hunter into a coma." Dino laughed again.

"Yeah right, and I'm a professional bodyguard trained to stop Assassins…guys?"

Spinax began to growl, "we need to go. NOW." Dino began to stand up.

"Please sit." Alvis asked. Dino felt himself slowly lower back down, despite every muscle screaming at him to run.

"I must say, this clairvoyance I've been gifted with has its perks." Alvis rocked back and forth on his heals, "once perfected, I can now influence the thoughts of others as well as hear them," he waved a hand in front of Duna, "for example, stopping this lovely lady from ripping my throat open after telling her the truth about Hunter." Dino said nothing. In fact, he couldn't say anything. His mind drew a blank whenever he tried to speak.

"oh, you can speak now."

"I hate you." Where the first words that came out of his mouth.

"That's understandable," Alvis shrugged, "but know this. all that I do, I do it with the fate of the world in mind."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Dino fought with all his might, but still couldn't move a single inch, "you sound like a lunatic!"

"Those are kind words compared to what spinax would say if I let him speak."

"Go to hell."

"I wish. They won't let me."

"Who?" Dino kept talking. Maybe he could distract Alvis long enough to come up with a plan,"

"You'll find out soon enough. Or rather, half of you will."

"There's only one of me, how can only half know?" Alvis lay down on the floor and stared up.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. I suppose that must come from this half."

"Just say what you mean."

"Fair enough, where do you think the other half of Hunter's soul is?"

"How should I know?"

"Okay, then answer these other questions. Why do people keep mistaking you for Hunter? Why can you hear spinax when only Hunter could do that? Why can you not remember anything except the past month?" Dino looked down at his hands.

"Dino," alvis' voice shifted into a much more serious tone, "the only reason you are alive is because you carry half of Hunter's soul within you."

"….no…no, that's not true."

"It is."

"Don't lie to me. You've been lying this entire time, why should I believe you now?"

"You can believe what you want, that doesn't change the fact the Hunter's soul is returning to it whole state again. I'd wager you can already feel the searing heat."

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Dino held his head in his hands, "you're wrong. Spinax….spinax tell him that he's wrong."

"Oh yes spinax tell me," Alvis mused, "tell everyone the real reason why you're so convinced that Hunter wasn't dead all along."

"….what?" Dino stood up freely now, his head sagged downward, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"I…" spinax started, choked up, "I'm sorry kid."

"….you knew?"

"…..not about Alvis. But yeah, I knew you were half off Hunter."

"Why….why didn't you tell me." Tears quietly hit the floor at a steady pace.

"I lost my entire life four months ago and I can't even remember how. My best friend was ripped away from me and I couldn't do anything about it. I won't lose Hunter again, even if it's only half of him."

"…I'm not Hunter."

"I'm afraid you must face the facts," Alvis said quietly, "it would do you good to come to terms with your fate before you disappear."

"I'm not Hunter."

"Hunter never really had a knack for denial. It always left him feeling depressed, I should expect no less from half of-"

"NO!" A current of wind whipped around Dino, "I AM ME! NOBODY ELSE!" Blue flames sparked up along the ground as Dino screamed. Fire ignited from his eye and blazed outward. Alvis was blown backward by sheer wind force.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Dino lunged at Alvis, who also had activated Soulflame at this point. He grabbed Alvis' arm and rammed his elbow into the joint. The burning pain now not only was coming from Dino's back, but his entire body as well. Alvis grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to force Dino close to the half-soul, But Dino let out a blood-curdling shriek and blue flames erupted from his back, sending Alvis careening into the wall.

"Incredible," Alvis gasped, "your power is exceeding Hunter's from when he fought Guhnash. Even if I wasn't holding back spinax, I doubt I'd have an easy time. You're just what Hunter needs."

"Go to Hell." Dino replied before ramming his fist into alvis' stomach. Big mistake. White flames engulfed Dino's fist. He grunted in pain and fell backwards, banging his head on the hard metal floor. Alvis grabbed his limp body and started dragging him towards the half-soul. Not only was Dino losing conscious, the heat that was burning away at him increased In intensity. Dino frantically looked for anything that would help him. Spinax was being held back and would be too big for the tiny hall. His eyes dart around until they landed on…Duna.

"…help…me," he coughed, spitting up blood, "please…" for a moment, Duna just slightly swayed back and forth while staring blankly at Dino. Then, in an instant, her eyes snapped too attention and she looked around. She looked at Dino's beaten face, flames streaming from one eye, tears streaming from both. Recollection flashed in her eyes.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" In a flash of white light, Duna was gone. In her place was a sleek, raptor-like vivosaur that tackled Alvis. Dino felt the grip on him loosen and slipped away.

"Hunter, Run!" The voice had a lot more hiss to it, but it was still Duna. Dino didn't even bother correcting her. He tried to sprint away, but the searing pain flared up like an inferno. Dino fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Soulflame flickered out and Dino lay on his side, clutching his head. He mumbled nonsense to himself while he saw footsteps walking towards him.

And then, everything went black.

"….."

"….

"…I am me, nobody else."

"…I am me, nobody else."

"…. am m.. nobody els.."

"…I am … nobody ….."

"…m me, no…. el…"

"….I.. me…."

"…I…..I…"

"…."

A voice rang out.

"Hunter….Hunter!"


	48. Chapter 48

Journey of the soul chapter 48

Well, it certainly has been a while. Sorry about the wait, there's been a lot of things going on and to be honest, I forgot that this story existed until looking through old passwords.

…

…

Wow, even Spinax left the office. Well, I'm sure you didn't come hear to listen to me prattle on. I DON'T OWN FOSSIL FIGHTERS! ENJOY!

"Hunter…..Hunter!"

"…"

"…."

"…"

"Five more minutes," Hunter Elwood rolled over on the lumpy cushion of the seat. He was perfectly content to stay asleep. After all, he's been asleep for a while now.

Unfortunately, the person next to him had other plans. Todd scowled, licked his finger, and stuck it in Hunter's ear.

"Gyah!" Hunter sprang up and banged his head on the ceiling, "ouch. C'mon Todd, was that really necessary?" Todd chuckled while Hunter rubbed his sore head.

"Can you two keep it down?" The pilot called back at the two passengers, "we're nearing the destination."

"Right, the destination." Hunter nodded, "…what was the destination again?"

"The caliosteo islands!" Todd jumped up, too excited to contain himself, "that's where I'm gonna win the caliosteo cup and become a Master Fighter!" Master fighter, Hunter smiled to himself, Todd had no idea that his friend was secretly a master fighter himself. Hunter has been a part of fights that Todd had only heard stories about. But that was a long time ago. Now, Hunter Cloud, the savior of the world and psycho murderer of his parents, was a criminal on the run from the law. Speaking of criminals…

"Spinax, you up?" Hunter was answered by a mental image of a giant vivosaur with crystal armor with bags under his eyes and a cup of coffee between his teeth.

"What do you think?" Spinax growled , "this helicopter doesn't even have an aromatherapy room." Sounds like a wonderful morning for Spinax.

"At least the view's pretty nice," Hunter stares at the rolling waves below. Memories came flooding back. A speedboat on the way to vivosaur island. A large ship leaving the island. Returning for the preliminaries of the caliosteo cup (he still can't believe he made it out of there without getting noticed) No. No, Hunter didn't do any of that. He's Hunter Elwood, not Hunter Cloud.

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself pal." Spinax smirked. He wasn't exactly a fan of Hunter's new identity. But to be honest, neither was Hunter. It wasn't a choice.

"Hey Hunter, you still with us?" Todd knocked on Hunter's forehead, "you're spacing out again."

"What? Oh, right. Sorry" Hunter shook his head, "can't match joe if I keep daydreaming huh?"

"Ya got that right, we gotta bring our a-game if wanna make the finals…HOLY CRAP WE'RE HERE!" Todd shot his arm out to point at the fighter station below and slapped Hunter on the visor.

"Ouch!...ouch?" Hunter struggled to adjust his visor, was it always this tight? Ah well.

"You ready to rock?" Hunter asked Spinax.

"Eh, maybe I'm not feelin it today."

"Good, I wasn't planning on using you anyway."

"They'll never find your corpse."

"What?"

"Don't you remember what happened the last time you decided you didn't need me?"

"Would you rather I turn into a screaming maniac with a flaming eye in the middle of a match?"

"…touché" the helicopter slowed to a midair hover and slowly lowered itself onto the tropical Ribular island. Todd and Hunter hopped on to the ground and took in the sights. Tropical birds flew overhead while palm trees dotted the small spaces between the buildings. The fossil center was adorned with a large structure on the roof that looked like…maybe a parrot? As they made their way to go sign up, Hunter caught his reflection in the shining glass of the fossil center window.

"Yikes," Hunter liked to think he had some sense of style, but he proved himself wrong. His previously baggy shorts were now above his knees. His U-neck shirt looked a lot more like a V-neck, not to mention his hair was now growing slightly over his visor.

"Oh god, puberty." Hunter muttered to himself before Todd called him over to inside the center.

"So, what's first on the list?" Hunter walked with his arms behind his head as Todd pulled out the brochure they had both been looking at since they signed up for the cup.

"First, we give the receptionist our ID and get registered as competitors," Todd had gone over this in his head dozens of times, "then we meet the staff leader of this area and get room keys for the fighters lodge."

"Right," the two went up to the front desk. Todd proudly produced his fighters license. Hunter was a little more discrete, mainly because his license was fake. Hunter Elwood doesn't exist, but he can thanks to forgery.

"All right, your all set." The receptionist handed the two boys back their licenses and Hunter breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

"Dodged a potential bullet there." He noted.

"If you call falling on your ass dodging." Spinax shot back, "you looked like you just killed someone's dog when you handed your license over." Hunter knew Spinax was right, and he hated it. He needs to be more reserved if he wants to keep his identity a secret.

"The staff leader is currently in the waiting lobby." The receptionist continued.

"Thanks," Hunter walked over to the lobby area while Todd had to stop himself from running. The automatic doors opened and a lady in a blue and green staff outfit walked out.

"Hello, here for registration I assume?" She asked.

"Already registered," Hunter replied, "I'm Hunter and that's Todd"

"And I'm Sora the master assassin," Spinax added.

"I'm Stella, you boys might need these if you're going to be staying here," she handed each of them a set of room keys, "those keys will also work on the corresponding rooms on the other islands."

"Neat!" Todd pocketed his key quickly. Stella also handed them each a small watch like device.

"These paleopagers will let you two know all the current news on the islands, as well as when cup rounds will start and any news announcements as well." She sounded like she's had to say this line multiple times. Hunter fitted the paleopager on his wrist next to his vivowatch.

"The fighters lodge is down the road and to the left," Stella's eyes lingered on Hunter for a moment, "and the clothing store is to the right." And with that, she walked away. Most likely to say the same thing to another group of new fighters.

"Alright then." Hunter adjusted his two watches. He heard a slight ripping noise as he bent his arm over.

"Now I get why Stella told us where to get clothes." Todd grinned. Hunter couldn't help but smile himself.

1 hour (or 9,001 Spinax hours) Later, Hunter emerged from the clothing store with a new look. He wore a grey undershirt that was covered by a black shirt-sleeved jacket. Hunter flexed his fingers to adjust to a new pair of fingerless gloves. His belt held up a pair of baggy black jeans that led to black sneakers with dark jagged lines of blue running through each if them. Hunter's favorite addition, however, was a pair of blue-banded goggles that sat comfortably atop his now cut messy hair. He still looked like he was wearing a porcupine on his head, but it was a biker porcupine instead of a porcupine king this time.

"Y'know," Hunter commented, "we would've been outta there sooner if you didn't stress over which gloves complemented my eyes."

"Don't act like that's not the most important part." Spinax replied, "who cares if you win the cup if you're not fabulous doing it?"

"Says the guy who is literally buck-naked all the time."

"It's not my fault they don't carry my size."

"What even is your size?"

"Big and meaty." Spinax replied without hesitation. Hunter stifled a laugh as Todd called him over to in front of the fossil center or "fighters station" as it's apparently called. A considerably sized crowd had also gathered around that area.

"What's up?" Hunter grinned and put his hands behind his head, "you like the new look."

Todd smirked, "you look like a bigger delinquent then he was."

"Who?"

"I….don't know." The two say there is awkward silence for a few seconds.

"So," Hunter tried to cut the tension, "what're we doing out here instead of at the fighters lodge?"

"Did you not get the message on your paleopager?" Todd pointed at his, "it said to gather here."

"Oh…mine's kinda been off since we got them."

"…why?"

"Because this place has free WiFi, it's obviously a trap." Todd and Hunter went from staring each other down to trying not to life. Hunter was glad that he found Todd. It had been lonely going from town to town with no one to talk too. Heck, if it wasn't for Todd, Hunter would probably still be hiding un bridges and eating lunch in abandoned sheds.

"Look up there!" Someone in the crowd shouted out.

"What is that?"

"Is it a plane?"

"It's a helicopter!"

"ITS MY EX-WIFE BACK FOR REVENGE! RUN!" That last one was Spinax. Turns out neither of those answers were correct. It was a giant purple tv being carried across the sky by propellers.

"Rich people," Hunter shook his head. Suddenly, the screen lit up to reveal a close up of a man in cowboy attire.

That man was Joe wildwest, a master fighter, the owner of the fossil park, and the one who saved Hunter and Todd from a raging Allosaurus.

"Howdy folks," not even Spinax spoke again after Joe's first words. The man just had that kind of charisma, it was almost like magic.

"Welcome to the caliosteo fossil park. The name's Joe Wildwest. You fighters'll love it here. We got three whole islands to explore!" Hunter clenched his fists. This was gonna be fun.

"Now get ready for a surprise." Oh? "Because I want y'all to know that…

The winner here will get my park, you'll own 'we clear and free!" The words echoed as the crowd erupted into cheers. Those words meant something to everyone, but to Hunter, they meant freedom. If he inherited the park, he could free himself of the charges. He could pay his bail if he got convicted and he would have a place to call home afterwords. Winning the cup wasn't just for fun anymore, it was for a new life.

"So let's get to battlin' folks," Joe smiled and tipped his hat, "The Caliosteo Cup is now open!" Fireworks shot off into the air as the ground nearly shook with the roaring of the crowd. This was it, this was exactly what he needed. He could live a life. He could see his friends again. He could see…Duna.

Hunter shoved those memories aside. If he was gonna win the cup, he needed to focus. Hunter's been out of practice with battling for a while and he knew for a fact that he wasn't the only master fighter competing.

"You still sure about not using me in battle?" You could almost hear the smirk in spinax's voice.

"Positive," Hunter checked his paleopager, it alerted him that the treasure lake dog site was now open.

"Sorry Spinax, but if I go Soulflame in a fight, then it's over for both of us. I can't take that risk, especially not now when so much is at stake."

"Okay, I get it."

"I'm serious Spinax, this is our shot to-wait, what?"

"I get that winning's important, we can play it safe coach." Spinax winked.

"Wow, thanks bud. You've really matured."

"At last, the peak of my career. I got called mature by a fifteen year old juvenile delinquent."

"Yeah yeah, make your jokes."

"What's you mean make? I got tons of these bad boys lined up for use, wanna here another one?"

"Sure." Hunter rolled his eyes.

"We're the only ones here." Hunter pauses for a moment and looked around. The previous crowd had disappeared. Even Todd was gone.

"Crap!" Hunter dashed towards the sign that read treasure lake , "the cup's barely even started and we're already behind!" Spinax laughed as Hunter scrambled away. Off on a new journey.

Done! To be honest, that long break was very relaxing. Maybe I should take them more often.

Hunter: NO!

Oh hey, welcome back. Why not?

Hunter: because while you were having you're little "break", I was drifting in an endless void. Don't ever do that again!

…yeah….my break….that's definitely the reason why that happened...

Spinax: 100% the reason why

Oh hi Spinax, where did you go?

Spinax: Costco, we were out of chocolate milk.

You went to Costco…for four months?

Spinax: yep, and I got enough chocolate milk for three weeks.

…..I missed you guys. Thanks for reading!


	49. Chapter 49

Journey of the soul chapter 49

After re-reading the entire story to get myself back up to speed, I'm ready to write the next chapter!

Hunter: can't wait to see how you'll screw this one up.

I'm sure it'll be spectacular.

Spinax: can there be explosions?

….it's the first dig site dude, no explosions.

Spinax: …..every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited you.

Hunter: party poopeeeeeer, party poopeeeeeer.

Wow nice song, how many rehearsals did that take?

Hunter: the same amount as the number of days you took off.

Touché.

Treasure lake isn't only a dig site; it's also a prime spot for relaxing. The calm lake and the large skull make a great atmosphere. Of course, it's hard to relax when there's someone running around throwing a pickax into anything that isn't solid.

"What're you doing." Hunter had caught up to Todd and took note of his spastic digging technique.

"Looking for fossils," Todd replied curtly, "it's harder than it looks."

"What does the sonar say?"

"…sonar?"

"It's gonna be a long day," Spinax commented.

After explaining the sonar to Todd and handing him an extra one, Hunter went off to claim a few rocks of his own. Most were ones he already had, but a few unidentifiable fossils popped up occasionally. With a full fossil case, Hunter resigned to simply loitering inside the large "dinosaur" skull in the middle of the lake until Todd finished his digging.

"There's no way this was an actual dinosaur," Hunter remarked, "the jaw would collapse in on itself."

"Right," Spinax rolled his eyes, "that's what you have a problem with."

"It's historically inaccurate! Also, you can see the parts on the roof of the mouth where the paint is chipping." Hunter set spinax's Dino medal on the ground and watched as Spinax used short bursts of wind to try and hit the ceiling with pebbles. It had been a while since he was able to relax like this. Most of the past seven months had been hiding away from the rest of the world. In fact, if he hadn't met Todd a month ago, Hunter would've still been living the hard life. Gotta admire that kid's optimism. It reminded Hunter of himself before all the crazy stuff happened. Hunter closed his eyes and listened to the waves wash onto the small, sheltered beach. He imagined his soul moving with them.

"Specimen X. Soul: returned." He said aloud. He liked to hear those words, just to remind himself that he was exactly who he wanted to be. Hunter found that there are quite a few perks from having a soul. For one, rarely does he ever get those fits of depression like before. As well as being able to pick up on emotions a lot Better. Sure, it wasn't all great. Hunter tried not to think about the month long period where he felt nothing but emptiness, thank the revival machine it ended once he got accepted for the caliosteo cup at vivosaur island. But, even with its downsides, Hunter wouldn't let go of his soul for anything in the world.

"You should write a love poem," Spinax suggested, "I hear it makes the ladies go crazy."

"Then you know nothing about women." Hunter replied.

"Sure I do, you find the one that doesn't smell like rotting meat and you have babies together. Simple." Hunter was going to pretend that Todd's shout drowned out Spinax.

"Hunter!" Todd called from the entrance to the bonehead hollow, "get out here! You need to see this!" Hunter reluctantly pushed himself up. Together the two walked back to the entrance of the dig site. A large crowd had gathered around three different people. Two of said people appeared to be news anchors judging by the camera equipment. The third Hunter recognized. He was a boy older than Todd but not quite as old as Hunter, probably 14. He wore a red overcoat with a fork tail that led down to his knees. Both the ends of his sleeves and the underside of the coat tail were a deep navy. His red baby's ended abruptly in a pair of brown boots. Every article of clothing had some sort of white highlight. While the boy was being interviewed, Hunter and Todd exchanged anxious looks.

"Is that?"

"Looks like it," the boy was named Rupert, the son of the owner of Fossildig Incorporated and famous fossil fighting prodigy. Hunter didn't know him personally, he had seen some of Rupert's matches with Todd. He had a calculating battle style and seemed to always be a step ahead. What worried Hunter the most is that Rupert earned master fighter status when he was twelve.

"So? That just means the kid peaked." Spinax chimed in, "looks like a walking stoplight if you ask me." Hunter ignored Spinax. This kid was bad news, for anyone in the cup and especially to a master fighter that has to hold back.

Once the interview ended, Rupert attempted to go further in the dig site. The large crowd began shuffling forward, but stopped and dispersed abruptly once Rupert looked back at them.

"Idiocy." Hunter heard Him mutter before he walked off.

"Sounds like a grade A prick to me." Hunter mused, "still, that's some stiff competition."

"I say we shut him up before he can compete," Spinax grunted, "make it look like an accident."

"And this why we don't go with you're plans."

"You're no fun."

"If I were any fun, we'd be dead."

"…touché." Hunter nodded and turned to Todd.

"Well, looks like we got our work cut out for…Todd?" Todd was nowhere to be seen, but Hunter has a pretty good guess as to where he was. Todd+strong fighter+close proximity=…crap.

Hunter jumped over the fence and landed in the lake with a large splash. He didn't slow down as he jogged across the water."

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Spinax raised an eyebrow.

"Remember what happened when YOU fought someone a lot stronger than you?"

"I'm always stronger."

Hunter sighed, "raptin's Dinomaton."

"We need to save that poor child." Hunter almost skidded across the water. He caught Todd just as he called out to Rupert.

"Hey there!" Todd called, "y'know that feeling you get when you meet a strong fighter? Well, I have it! So how about we have some fun?"

"Don't bore me with your nonsense," Rupert replied without even looking at Todd, "have fun? As if someone of my standard would allow themselves that."

"There's no need to be rude," Hunter commented.

"Your irony is impeccable," Rupert turned and scoffed, "as if someone of your level could be so frank with someone of my stature. It's positively criminal."

"I have located the prick," Spinax commented, "he is in fact, grade A."

"If you truly wished to challenge me, you should meet me in the tournament." Rupert continued, "but of course, that would never happen in this millennium. So run along now, and take your sad excuses for vivosaurs with you."

"This guy would get along great with Raptin," Spinax muttered, "only difference is: when we beat up Raptin, it's protecting the planet. If we beat up this guy, it's assault."

"Excuse me?!" Todd shouted loud enough to get the attention of many in the area, "you have no idea how talented I am!"

"Oh please, as if I would waste team fighting a weakling like you."

"You know what? I bet you're just chicken. Bok! Bok! Bok!" Hunter buries his face in his jacket collar to keep himself from laughing.

"You crave defeat that much? Fine! Don't say you weren't warned." Rupert drew two Dino medals, Todd did as well.

"We should move." Spinax suggested. It was a good thing they did too, or else hunter would've been flattened by Todd's Stego and goyle. Rupert in turn sent out two large theropods. Hunter's vivowatch identified them as raja and Mapo. Raja was a brown t-Rex like creature with a small horn adorning it's was periwinkle and had an intricate dark blue horn that stemmed from armored skin on its face.

"Stego! Use-" before Stego lifted its tail, raja charged and slammed into it. Mapo grabbed goyle's tail and flung it towards the stunned Stego. Both vivosaurs crashed into each other and faded immediately. The battle was over before it had started.

"Well…that escalated quickly." Hunter commented.

"At least now you know the reality of the situation," Rupert addressed Todd, "as I said before, run along and take your sad vivosaurs with you." And with that, he was gone. Hunter walked over to Todd and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't sweat it man, everybody has an off day." Todd remained silent for a moment.

"AAAAAAAAAARRGH!" Todd shouted, "I've lost before, but I've never been this angry about it! That's it! One of us has to beat the jerk in the cup!" Todd held out a hand to Hunter. He smiled.

"For sure," Hunter took the hand, "we got each other's backs."

"Is that a promise I hear?" Spinax questioned.

"Yup, and I'm gonna keep this one." The words had a lot more weight than Hunter thought they did. For a moment, Hunter felt an unbridled urge to protect his friend no matter what. He was quickly snapped back to reality when both his and Todd's paleopagers made a noise.

"The 17th match of the first round is now open. Competitors Hunter and Todd please make your way to the stadium." The two boys exchanged looks.

"Oh man, I was hoping to face you in the finals." Todd moped. Hunter just grinned.

"Well then, I'll guess we'll just have to give the crowd a match worthy of the finals." Todd returned the smiles.

"Then I guess we're enemies until the last vivosaur falls!"

"You better watch you're back." Hunter winked. Todd nodded and began to walk back towards the exit. Hunter took one last look around.

"Y'know Spinax, this was kind of uneventful for the first dig site. I was hoping to at least have someone try and scam me, for old times' sake."

"True, this place could definitely benefit from some excitement."

"Did somebody say EXCITEMENT." Hunter turned towards the source of the voice and saw someone in a bright pink tracksuit eating Caesar salad. Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Bonus content, they always have to have bonus content."

"Howdy kid! The name's Ryne," Ryne was now at Hunter's side, his leaf green hair tickled Hunter's forehead," you want excitement, I got canned excitement right here!" Ryne produced a strange looking Dino medal and stuffed it in Hunter's holder before he could protest.

"Hey," Spinax whined, "tell salad boy to stay outta my personal space!" Hunter shook his head, but when he looked up again, Ryne had disappeared.

"Well, I guess we better go to the stadium." Hunter moved the new Dino medal to his bank before even getting a better look at it. He walked back into the main area and started to make his way towards the fighters station.

"part of me is genuinely disappointed," Hunter sighed, "I hoped I would have to fighter Todd later. It's not fair to him at all."

"Eh, life isn't fair," spinax shrugged, "we know that better than anyone."

"I guess you're right…hey, what's that?" Hunter stared up and saw a speck in the sky lower itself down. The helicopter lowered itself slowly onto the helipad. Hunter raises an eyebrow.

"What challengers would show up so late to the cup that…shit." Hunter dived into the fossil guild to avoid being seen. The people walking out of the helicopter were the reason he hid.

"No way, this is bad. This really bad."

"Flatten your hair." Spinax instructed. Hunter did so and slowly walked out of the guild. He went around the helicopter and tried to avoid getting close to the group around, mainly because they consisted of people from vivosaur island.

Duna, Dynal, Rosie, , and were already attracting a crowd, mainly because 40% of said group had tails. However, 100% of the group could not see Hunter at all costs. If he was recognized, it would be the end of the line. Hunter removed his goggles and flattened his hair further, covering his eyes. He couldn't let them see him, even if they wouldn't recognize him.

"You did say you wanted excitement," spinax stated.

"Shut up spinax." Hunter skulked into the fighters station without being noticed. Just another face in the crowd, he told himself. He propped his hair back up once he got in. He walked into the lobby and immediately felt an overwhelming urge to run out there and return to the people he cared about. Especially-

"No, stop. You have to win the tournament. Freedom. Place to call home. Focus!" Hunter slapped his cheeks.

"That's the spirit coach, now lets get out there and protect this house! Hoorah!" Spinax began jumping around in Hunter's mind, which only served to make him dizzy as he approached Todd.

"Well, if it isn't my rival!" Todd did his best to sneer, "this is the day I prove that I'm better once and for all!"

"You took the words right outta my mouth," Hunter and Todd both struggled not to laugh. Despite being about to go into a battle, Hunter felt more relaxed around his friend.

"Hey, did you hear?" Todd immediately broke the charade, "a bunch of people from vivosaur island are coming. Three of them are even in the cup!"

"Figures, that place does have a knack for housing good fighters."

"I guess it does make sense, especially since the tournament is being partly funded by the Richmond foundation," of course it is, "but the coolest part is that two of them are gonna be dinaurians!"

"Wow, really?" Hunter feigned ignorance, "I guess I really better step up my game then!"

"Don't you mean me?" Todd smiled, "after all, I'm gonna win!" The doors to the stadium flew open and the two boys walked out. Hunter selected two Dino medals to match Todd.

"Two Dino medals," spinax mused, "I too like to live dangerously."

"It just…seems fair." Hunter stammered. The two boys walked to opposite ends of the arena and stared each other down.

"Stego! Goyle!"

"Aeros! Tricera!" Aeros charged straight At Stego once the battle began. It was rewarded with a spiked tail to the face for its efforts. Tricera sidestepped our of goyle's tail as it swung and rushed in to push it backwards. Stego began spinning vertically in an attempt to run Aeros over.

"Wind blast!" Aeros roared so loud that the sheer wind force pushed back Stego and kept it from making contact. Tricera took advantage of this to knock Stego over. Goyle transferred it's support effects to Stego quickly just as Aeros was about to go in for the knockout. The newly revitalized Stego easily overpowered Aeros and slammed its pointed plates up Aeros' underbelly.

"Finish it with spike tail!"

"Running smash!" Just as Stego whipped around, tricera used its head as a shovel to through the vivosaur upwards.

"Aeros! Throw goyle!" Aeros complied and threw goyle into Stego, launching the two higher into the air.

"Now, tri-torpedo!" Tricera launched itself even higher into the air and came spiraling down, accompanied by blue waves of energy. Stego and goyle were sent rocketing down to earth and crashed. Miraculously, the stadium didn't break. Both of Todd's vivosaurs faded away, Hunter had won.

As the crowd cheered, Hunter scanned the sea of faces. He missed this.

"Feels good to be back." Hunter told spinax.

"Don't rub it in, I didn't get to…nine o'clock."

"Am or Pm?"

"Just turn right." Hunter did so and saw two things.

1\. The group from vivosaur island was in the stands, and Duna was staring directly at him.

2\. Above them, Alvis was perched at the very top of the stands. For some reason, Hunter had the desire to strangle him.

Hunter sighed, "and I thought this was gonna be fun."

Done! See Hunter, that wasn't so bad.

NotHunter: …are you kidding me? That went about as bad as bad could go. Also, don't call me Hunter.

What are you doing

NotHunter: I gotta blend in or I'm done for! Call me…Ishmael.

…thanks for reading. Be sure to tell Hunter what happens to Ishmael, he hasn't read Moby dick.

Spinax: language!


	50. Chapter 50

Journey of the soul chapter 50

I'm drawing a real blank here, what happens after the first round of the cup?

Hunter: how should I know? I live it as soon as you type it.

Fair enough, but that won't help me write this chapter.

Spinax: just do something really stupid that is fundamentally flawed but is still enjoyable nonetheless.

You just described fossil fighters, enjoy the chapter.

"Y'know spinax, part of me wonders if Todd is really okay." Hunter stomped through a beaten jungle path, pushing aside low hanging branches, "getting knocked out in the first round of a tournament has gotta be tough."

"Don't come to me for emotions," spinax yawned, "emotions are stupid and keep me from doing what I want."

"Don't act like you don't have emotions, I've seen you get angry pointy."

"I'll see you in hell too." Spinax growled.

"See? There's another emotion, repressed fury."

"That's what you get for waking me up early!" spinax roared in Hunter's ear, "I need my beauty sleep dammit!"

"Whatever," Hunter cur through a particularly stubborn bush with his folded and continued down the path.

"I guess I'd be the best person to go to for emotions." Hunter admitted, "so, inner self, do you think Todd is sad?"

"Probably," replies spinax with a bad Hunter impression, "also, send more mind pictures of Dun-"

"Shut up inner voice," Hunter swatted away a particularly annoying mosquito, "for a labyrinth, this jungle sure is pretty one way."

"That's because you've been walking in circles, if you turned left we would've reached the actual dig site immediately." Hunter sighed.

"The bad thing is, I know you're right." Hunter turned left and walked into the main clearing of the second dig site, jungle labyrinth.

"Finally," Hunter clapped his hands together, "let's get down to buisne-why is there an old man on the ground." There was in fact, an old man lying on the ground. He was dressed in faded brown archeologist clothes and was particularly round around the middle.

"Alas, I curse myself," the man muttered, "I curse my forgotten lunch and I curse the need to eat."

"You okay sir?" Hunter walked up.

"Ah, someone has come to see me off in my final minutes. Time runs short for me my boy, if only I had remembered to bring my lunch. Oh, how it laughs at me from the countertop of my house."

"So you're hungry," Hunter unwrapped some of his own lunch and gave it to the man.

"Is that angels? Have they come to take me away?...what is this sensation? That pleasant aroma, the smooth texture. By my knickers, it's."

"A reheated breakfast burrito," Hunter finished for him.

"FOOD!" The old man rocketed a good fifty feet into the air and came straight down, landing on his feet.

"Eh, I've seen weirder," Hunter shrugged.

"Good show my boy! Thanks for helping this old bean out of that tight spot. Might I have the Honor of knowing your name?"

"Uh, Hunter, Hunter Elwood." Hunter extended a hand, the man promptly shook it."

"Professor Nigel Scatterly, at your service. Now, I must resume my quest to unearth the calio tablet." (Cross: is that what they were called?)

"Calio…tablet?"

"Ancient texts written on stone depicting the ancient past of these islands,"

"Cool,"

"Indeed, they tell a story of a sorcerer with immense power known as Zongazonga. He was a tyrant that killed anyone who opposed him."

"Not as cool."

"Precisely, which is why I must know more. stand back my boy! I have located the tablet in this dig site and must excavate it with due speed!" Scatterly reached a hand behind his back and Hunter watched as he grasped thin air before coming to a realization.

"Blast it, is seems I've forgotten not only my lunch but my trusted shovel as well!"

"This guy forgot more than that if ya know what I'm sayin'" spinax commented. Hunter ignored him and flipped out the blades on his foldax.

"I got it." Hunter dug one blade into the ground and spun on the handle to the other side of the foldax. Using it as leverage, Hunter unearthed the blade and cleared out a large swath of dirt in the process. A small brown stone was visible through the soil. Hunter helped the professor pull the surprisingly large tablet out of the ground. It looked like a dinosaur bone that had been cut in half. Ancient letters were written on the side of the tablet which was accompanied by a depiction of what looked like two dinosaurs fighting.

"Good show my boy!" Scatterly was practically jumping, "as thanks, allow me to translate this tablet it appears this is number 3 of 4. Oh well, I suppose tablet #2 will continue to rest in the ground." The professor cleared his throat.

"Once his life grew short, Zongazonga would host a tournament. Using dark magic, he would resurrect ancient monsters to be used by the participants in combat. The victor would be deemed superior to all else and would become Zongazonga's new majestic vessel."

"…what?" Hunter scratched his head, "I'm not following doc."

"It is slightly confusing to me as well," Nigel strokes his mustache, "a tournament using resurrected monsters. Why, that sounds like our own caliosteo cup! But what about this majestic vessel bit?"

"Vessel is something that you put a substance into right?, maybe their a conduit for dark magic or something."

"Well fancy that, this doesn't seem like your first dabble in the indescribable does it?"

"Something like that, let's just say I'm more than well verse in the unnatural."

"Right. as it would seem to me, we have a sorcerer with the power to cheat death itself! I say, the comparisons between Zongazonga and Arawn keep piling up."

"Arawn?"

"The god of death,"

"…right." Hunter believed in a lot of things: Aliens, magic, ghosts, flaming eyeballs, but he was living proof that there's no gods. If they did exist, they wouldn't let him be around.

"Well old bean, I must be off. If you ever happen to be at cranial island, be sure to stop by the museum for a spot of tea!" And with that, the professor promptly started running deeper into the jungle before they realized that was wrong way and left.

"Strange guy." Spinax commented.

"Said the pot to the kettle,"

"Nobody asked for your confusing metaphors about kitchen utensils."

"How is it conf…nevermind. Let's just go." Hunter walked deeper into the jungle, listening to the birds arguing over something and screeching at each other. It was nice to be at a dig site again, especially one without distractions.

"RUN AWAY!" Spoke too soon. Hunter ran further up the path, following the sound of repeated shouting. Eventually he saw Todd staring at something in the distance.

Todd noticed Hunter and waved him over. The two watched as what looked like construction workers ran at full speed screaming at the top of their lungs.

"MONSTER!" One of them shouted at the two boys as they passed, "RUN!."

"Well that was certainly…interesting." Hunter watched as they ran out of the dig site, "I wonder what's got them scared."

"Yeah," Todd's face was considerably paler, "but there's no way it could be a monster right? T-t-those don't exist…right?"

"Yeah, probably just some guy messing around with a vivosaur." In all honesty, Hunter had no idea if it was a monster or not. Todd just needed to hear that.

"Hey you two!" But Hunter didn't need or want to hear that.

"Red alert! This is not a drill!" Spinax shouted. Hunter quickly pulled his goggles over his eyes, he recognized that voice.

"Have you two seen a monster anywhere?" Rosie Richmond had walked up to the two boys.

"I don't think it's a monster." Todd commented, "hey…aren't you-"

"Yeah yeah ,Rosie Richmond. I'm an insanely rich master fighter who's grandfather practically owns half the cup. Don't remind me." Wow, Hunter thought to himself, Rosie really grew up. Also, master fighter, that's new.

"Anyway, I heard there was a monster around here somewhere. I'm going to beat it up and take it to the fighters station for reward money. Have you seen it?" Good thing she wasn't paying much attention to the two boys. Suddenly, An idea came to Hunter.

"Oh yeah, I've seen it. I hear it's got teeth even bigger than a denture shark's." Rosie's skin got visibly paler for a second, but she quickly regained composure.

"denture sharks can't even open their mouths, so I've got nothing to worry about." Rosie walked deeper Into the jungle. Hunter removed his goggles and turned back to Todd.

"I guess we should check it out too,"

"R-r-really?" Todd stammered, "w-well, you s-see…OOOOOH! My stomach!." Todd kneeled over, clutching his midsection, "I knew I shouldn't have eaten that old cake that was left out."

"I'm detecting a high level of something." Spinax remarked, "what do you call it again? Oh yeah, bullshit!"

"Shut up Spinax," Hunter turned back to his friend, "well, stay here and see if it gets any better. I'll go on ahead." Todd nodded and dramatically ambled over to a rock to sit down on. Hunter left the open area and was once again left under a canopy of trees.

"Maybe Todd actually does have a stomachache," Hunter told himself, "he probably would need to sit this one out."

"You give that kid too much credit." Spinax replied, "if he wanted to look like he was telling the truth, he'd come up with something more believable. Like invisible alien assassins are after him and he needed to leave or else you'd be in danger too."

"What is it with you and assassins?"

"That's a pretty loaded question there Sora." Hunter rolled his eyes at the mention of one of spinax's fake personas for him.

"Let's just make sure this "monster" isn't some kind of threat."

"Now that's what I don't get, why are we doing this anyway?"

"Because this place needs to be safe for people."

"Right, people. Because they're just sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-"

"Spinax…"

"Not finished, ooooooooooooooooooooooooo great."

"Could you tone down the sarcasm a little?"

"That option isn't available at this time, please leave a note with the receptionist on the way out." Hunter sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. He watched the patches of light on the ground shift through the canopy.

"Y'know what, maybe we should help people," spinax considered something for a moment, "it would definitely help our PR department."

"That's…not actually a bad idea." Hunter leaned back and looked up at the sky. He imagined that it was filled with stars that dotted each and every part of it. He also imagined someone very special sitting next to him.

"So, what's the game plan coach?" Spinax, "what's our angle?"

"First of all, we can't let anybody from vivosaur island know I'm here, that puts them at risk of being affiliated with me if I get caught. We can't let that happen, especially not to Duna," Hunter's heart ached whenever he thought about Duna. He wanted so badly when he saw her yesterday to rush over and apologize for not coming back sooner, for making her worry, and for not letting her know he was safe. Now, she's a bleak reminder that Hunter can't go back to that old life. Not unless…

"Second, we have to win the caliosteo cup. You may be seeing some action way before I planned on fighting with you."

"That's great and all coach, but I was asking what we do about the monster."

"Oh, uh…" color quickly rushed to Hunter's face, "well, it's probably just some vivosaur that we need to calm down."

"Maybe Todd will help with that, he's pretty good with emotions and all that jazz."

"Not your best joke, Todd isn't even here."

"Just wait, it gets better. Hi Todd."

"Hey Hunter!" Hunter quickly sat up to see Todd running towards him.

"Your stomach better?" Hunter asked.

"What? Oh right. Yeah, I'm good." Todd quickly looked around, "I just thought you might need my help." Hunter smiled.

"Well then, let's go." They turned to head deeper into the jungle when a rustling noise made them both stop.

"W-what was that?" Todd shuddered, "It was probably just the wind, or a wild boar."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself kid." Spinax commented. They turned towards the source of the noise, a large…thing moving behind the foliage. Hunter pulled out his foldax and snapped the blades into place. Out from the foliage jumped…a girl wearing a REALLY ugly mask.

"MONSTER!" Todd screeched, bolting away. Hunter sighed.

"Did that guy just call me a monster?!" The girl stomped her foot down on a twig, "I happen to be a very beautiful idol y'know!" Hunter sighed again.

"And you, who are you?." She turned towards Hunter.

"The name's Hunter,"

"Hmm, not a bad name, not a particularly good one either."

"Screw you, my name is badass," Hunter didn't say this out loud.

"So what's your name?" He said instead.

"Seriously?! You don't know who I am? Well than, prepare to have your mind blown by the future teen idol and caliosteo cup champion!" She did a small twirl and posed at the end of it.

"Say hello to Pauleen!"

"Goodbye." Hunter turned and started to head further up the path.

"Excuse me! You think you can just walk away and try to take on the monster yourself?" This made Hunter stop, "yeah, I know about the monster. And judging by your looks, you'd be squished into paste if you tried to fight it.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THIS B-" spinax started.

"Language!"

"Don't worry though," Pauleen continued, oblivious to the internal conversation, "you can watch me wipe the floor with it and tell all your friends." Pauleen walked ahead of Hunter, who begrudgingly went in the same direction. He still needed to make sure that the place was safe. They continued walking until they reached an outcropping from the main jungle.

"Did the air just get colder?" Hunter shivered and noticed the goosebumps on his arms.

"I'm pretty sure climate change is the other way around there bud," spinax replied.

"You know what I meant."

"No, I really don't. The air is the same temperature it's been all day."

"Huh…weird." Hunter shrugged it off and moved under a particularly thick canopy with Pauleen into the outcropping.

"Y'know what? I'm actually excited to see this monster," Pauleen lamented, "and I KNOW it's excited to see me." Hunter rolled his eyes, and out of the corner of one he saw something moving.

"GRRAAAWWLL!" Through the roar, Hunter could hear metallic rasping. He turned to look at the cardboard disappointment that was called a monster. It looked like a ninth grade science project, held together with duct tape and treads for wheels. The "monster" screeched again as the two approached it. Hunter kicked the side of the monster and watched its head blow off.

"Huh...," spinax muttered, "…I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

"Uhh, yeah." The same two men who Hunter saw running away earlier now approached the monster without a shred of fear.

"Aww man," one of them said, "the darn thing broke."

"Well, what'd you expect?" The other replied, "the thing's been left on 24/7."

"Wait," Pauleen finally caught on to the situation, "this whole thing was a hoax?!"

"Right on the money," one of the men took a step towards them, "scare the fighters away, keep all the good fossils. But we can't have you two going around sayin' that, can we?"

"How about you kids just disappear for a while, at least until the cup's over."

"Tell you what, this is a nice piece of machinery," Hunter pretended to examine the fake monster, "you obviously put a lot of effort into this. But you've got the angles on the face all wrong."

"Shut your mouth kid! Our monster's a work of art!"

"Hmm, well at least I can tell it's a monster. On second thought, maybe you should use a real monster for reference." Hunter dropped spinax's Dino medal and let it roll between the two men.

"I get to do something?!" Spinax practically shouted, "I GET TO DO SOMETHING!" Spinax spiraled into the air. Multiple cyclones shot out of the earth as spinax slammed onto the ground. An earth-shattering roar soon followed.

"Show off." Hunter smirked.

"Maybe a little." Spinax held the men in place by using its massive claw as a blockade. Hunter was dialing the number for the fighters station when Stella arrived with multiple staff members

"That's pretty good service," Hunter retrieved spinax and let the staff capture the two men, "I hadn't even called you guys yet."

"You should thank your friend Todd, he came into my office screaming about some kind of monster." As if on cue, Todd walked up to Hunter."

"You're alright!" Todd smiled, then screamed when he saw Pauleen.

"MONSTER!"

"Excuse me?! I happen to be very beautiful, thank you very much." Todd calmed down and shook his head.

"If you want people to not be afraid of you, maybe you shouldn't wear that creepy mask."

"Uh, no thanks. I wear this

Mask for personal reasons, not happening!" And with that, Pauleen left.

"Y'know what? After all this crap," Hunter yawned, "I think I'm ready to go home now."

"Day's not over yet," Todd pointed at Hunter's paleopager. It was flashing green. Hunter turned it on and a message flashed on the screen.

"The 6th match of round two of the caliosteo cup will be commencing shortly. Combatants Hunter Elwood and Rosetta Richmond please report the the fighters station."

"Spinax, I take it back. There are gods, and they all hate me."

"Join the club buddy."

Done!

Hunter:…that's it?

Yeah, what were you expecting?

Hunter: something with a little more…excitement.

Well, then you're really gonna like next chapter. Thanks for reading!


	51. Chapter 51

Journey of the soul chapter 51

Once again, Christmas is right around the corner and I have nothing special planned for the chapter.

Hunter: why not just make it a Christmas special?

HahahahahahahahahahaNo. That especially wouldn't work with how far into the game story I am.

Hunter: why not?

Have you ever been to a fossil battle?

Hunter: sounds like a perfectly nice place for Christmas.

…if you say so, it's your sweltering hot funeral.

Hunter: Wait what?

Enjoy the chapter

Hunter say in the lobby of the fighters station, drumming his foot on the ground. Any minute now, he told himself, he would hit one of the first real hurdles in his goal.

"Why are you so worried?" Spinax on the other hand, could be told that he only had 24 hours left to live and still wouldn't stop smiling, "we've kicked Rosie's tail before. C'mon, this'll be fun!"

"I'm really out of practice Spinax," Hunter started to tap his foot even faster, "the last master fighter I fought was Saurhead, and that was over 8 months ago. Plus, it'll be a little difficult to have fun if I'm constantly worried about someone who knows EXACTLY WHAT I LOOK LIKE and HOW I FIGHT figuring out who I am in the middle of the battle."

"…that's deep man, you should write a book about this stuff."

"Maybe I should," Hunter quickly noticed that his incessant foot tapping was gaining him unwanted attention, so he pretended to play a game on his phone. In reality, he was looking up competitor files for the caliosteo cup. If Rosie's even going to show up, he needs to be as well prepared as possible.

"Yep, master fighter. Says so on the record," Hunter quickly scrolled through Rosie file. It was about as much as he expected, mainly Fire vivosaurs and a calculated strategy until something goes wrong. Hunter kept scrolling and paused for a moment when he saw the next two names on the list his eyebrows shot up.

"Duna Nichs and King Dynal XVI," spinax read aloud for him, "…does that mean his first name is king?"

"…she never told me her last name." Hunter absentmindedly commented.

"What a crushing blow to your emotions," Spinax mocked, "how will you ever recover." Hunter was about to shoot back with his own insult, but Rosie walked in and cut him off.

"Hey! You're that guy who proved the monster was a fake!" She called out. Hunter stood up and started to make his way towards the stadium doors. Apparently, Rosie wasn't done talking and wasn't exactly thrilled that he was walking away.

"Get back here! You coward!" Hunter stopped, did he hear that right?

"Why didn't you tell me about the monster?" Rosie scowled at him, "afraid I'd steal your glory?"

"Uh, no. I didn't know about it until you talked to me and Todd."

"Yeah well, enjoy your fame while it lasts…Uh, what's your name?"

"Hunter…Elwood," he added that last part quickly after realizing his mistake. Rosie fidgeted slightly after hear his name. Idiot! Hunter silently seethed. Don't tell her your real first name! "You don't have to be rude, I'm sure your already pretty famous for being…"

"A rich man's granddaughter?" Rosie finished for him, "well, maybe I want to be famous because of something I did." Hunter nodded. He could understand where her frustration came from. Rosie has been surrounded by people who accomplished great things, it makes sense that she wants to be known for something she did.

"Well then, beating me is a pretty big accomplishment," Hunter gave a competitive smile, "let's see if you can do that."

Rosie gave Hunter a similar look, "you're on." Hunter smiled, then had to fight back tears. Why was he about to cry? The answer came almost immediately. He missed his old friends. Rosie reminded him of his old life. Living in his comfy apartment, having fun battling, adventuring to new places, and

"Stop it," he told himself, "you'll get that back, but you've gotta win this first."

"Hey!" Spinax cut in, "I'm the one who's supposed to give the emotionally uplifting speeches. Stick to the script dammit!" Hunter smiled and began to walk to the other end of the stadium. He scanned the roaring crowd, looking for a familiar face. He saw Todd's helmet in a sea of faces and waved in that general direction. And hand shot up from the helmet and waved back.

"Top left corner," spinax commented. Hunter turned and saw was spinax was talking about. It was the group from vivosaur island again, and once again Alvis was perched a few rows above.

"Why is it that every time I see that guy I want to kick him?"

"Secrecy and being vaguely mysterious." Spinax explained dully, "honestly, we should probably talk to that guy."

"Yeah, especially if he read my letter." Hunter's mind briefly flashed an image in his brain. It was himself lying on the floor, clearly dead. Where did that come from? Hunter shook the morbid thought from his mind and brandished three Dino medals.

"Siamo! U-raptor! Dimorph!" Rosie was already calling out her own vivosaurs. Hunter had already seen Siamo and U-raptor. What really caught his attention was the fact that dimorph was a red DRAGON.

"Right. Right. Super revival." Hunter's vivowatch beeped, naming the vivosaur as a dimorph ace.

"Spinax! Delta! and…uh, Cryo!" Hunter quickly altered his usual vivosaur configuration, substituting s-raptor for a similar theropod with water element.

"Frozen pulse!" Hunter wasted no time going on the offensive. Cryo let out an ear splitting roar. Layers of frost spread out around it and turned into icicles that shattered near the opposing team. U-raptor and Siamo took the full force of the attack; however, dimorph was able to nimbly fly away from the violent hailstorm.

"Sizzling breath! Then dimorph Star!" Siamo let out a column of fire towards delta. The dromeosaur launched itself backwards to avoid taking the full blast of the flames. But what delta wasn't able to dodge was dimorph diving into the flames and slamming into delta with its newfound cloak of fire.

"Spinax mega!" With his claw wrapped in a tornado, spinax bore down on dimorph. He pinned down the small dragon and shielded delta from a assault from u-raptor with the other.

"U-venom!" U-raptor leaped over spinax's arm and raked delta on the side with its foot. Delta shrieked and fell backwards. Cryo quickly moved in to cover for its ally.

"Combo attack!" Cryo kicked U-raptor away and slammed its head spike into Siamo.

"Dimorph wave!" Dimorph broke free of spinax's grip and cloaked its tail in flame. Using its tail as a whip, Dimorph lashed out at spinax.

"Damn bird!" Spinax growled.

"Spinax Terra!" Spinax closed his eyes, wind whipped around his jaws when he inhaled, then he let out a concentrated jet stream of wind at dimorph, this knocked the dragon out of the air and gave delta an opening.

"Blitz attack!" Delta cloaked itself in water and rushed at Dimorph, but stopped short and fell after stumbling a ways.

"Crap, poison." Hunter looked over to U-raptor and could swear that it was smirking.

"Laugh at this." Spinax quickly served the role of therapist as he lift U-raptor by the tail with his jaws and began swinging it around violently.

"Spinax Giga!" Wind whipped around spinax's jaws as he bit down, returning U-Raptor to its Dino medal.

"Dimorph somersault!" Dimorph began to fly in a circle, leaving a trail of flames in its wake. Using its momentum to propel itself forward, dimorph shot straight at Cryo.

"Counter! Then follow up with frozen pulse!" Delta limped In front of Cryo. It's poison injuries were severe, but that didn't stop it from creating a large shield around it self. Cryo once again summoned frost that quickly froze into dangerous icicles. Most of the icicles were directed at the oncoming Dimorph, but they also passed through delta's shield and struck the small dromeosaur.

"Hang in there!" Hunter muttered. He could see the shield flicker, threatening to burst. Dimorph reared up right before it hit Cryo and dived straight down. As that was happening, delta jumped into the air.

"Wait, stop!" Rosie shouted. Too late. Dimorph struck delta and the counter shield exploded in a brilliant flash of blue light. When the light faded, both Delta and Dimorph were gone.

"Fourth of July be damned." Spinax commented, "your plan was to suicide bomb?"

"Of course no-…can vivosaurs die?"

"…am I immortal? AM I A GOD?!" Siamo crunched down on spinax's tail.

"Questions for later." Spinax roared in Siamo's ear, lifted his tail high into the air with Siamo still holding onto it, and whipped it back and forth furiously. Siamo was going into the air and crashed into the stadium wall.

"SPINAX PETA!" Spinax thundered out a deep roar. Three tornadoes erupted from the ground and collided Into each other with Siamo in the middle. As the tornadoes cleared and Siamo faded away, Spinax roared in victory.

"That's two." Hunter retrieved his Dino medals with a grin. He slowly walked back to the waiting room and to the lobby from there. Todd was waiting for him when he got back.

"Great job Hunter!" Todd clapped him on the back.

"Thanks, that was a bit of a rollercoaster, Eh?"

"Speak for yourself, victory is a predetermined condition." Spinax snorted.

"Whatever you say pointy."

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Suddenly, the crowd roared so loud that Hunter and Todd jumped in shock. This, of course, led to Hunter slipping and falling onto the floor. While Hunter was sliding on his butt across the slick floor, Pauleen exited the waiting room.

"Wow, she must be good to have won a fight that fast," Todd commented.

"How interesting of you to point that out immediately." Hunter pulled himself off the ground and smirked at Todd. He smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, what!" Todd glared at Hunter.

"What are you two bozos talking about?" Pauleen had walked over at this point and was standing with her hands on her hips.

"You're one to talk," Todd retorted, "calling is bozos when you where that weird mask."

"Ugh, I've already told you. I'm not taking this mask off!" She turned to Hunter, "anyway, Hunter. You're pretty good. Not as good as me of course, but not bad."

"Well than-"

"But don't get any ideas of winning the cup, because that honor is going to go to the beautiful and talented Pauleen! Oh, and humble to."

"In all my years of conquest, it's never been personal," spinax's voice has dropped multiple octaves, "but I will enjoy crushing this one."

"Think I've got a better idea," Hunter turned back to Pauleen, "yeah right. Beautiful, and we're supposed to believe that when you cover your face with a mask?" Even with the mask, you could tell that Pauleen was flustered.

"W-whatever! I don't need to stand here explaining myself to you two." And with that, she left. Todd and Hunter shared a high-five. Score one for the bozos.

"Hey, there's Rosie." Todd pointed out. Rosie was in fact on the other side of the lobby…along with Mr. Richmond, Dynal, and .

"Oh, she's probably busy. We should just lea-"

"Hey Hunter! Come over here!" Rosie called to them.

"Shit." Hunter begrudgingly followed Todd over to the small group.

"Todd right?" Rosie gesture to Todd.

"Yep, nice to formally meet you Ms. Richmond." Todd did a small bow. Rosie laughed and Hunter tried not to.

"You don't have to be formal in front of my grandfather." Rosie gestured to Mr. Richmond, who was in a conversation with Dr. Diggins and Dynal.

"Oh, hello you two," Mr. Richmond gave a short wave, "friends of Rosetta I presume?"

"Acquaintances." Hunter replied.

"This is Hunter and Todd everybody. Hunter is the one that beat me." And the mention of his name, everyone turned their attention to Hunter.

"Double Shit." Spinax mumbled.

"To beat my granddaughter is a very impressive feat Hunter. Are you by any chance a master fighter?" Me. Richmond asked.

"I wish," Hunter scratched the back of his head, struggling to keep his nerves in check.

"Still, an accomplishment nonetheless." Dr. Diggins stated absentmindedly, "no..that's not it." Hunter was suddenly extremely glad he left his foldax at the fighter's lodge.

"Spinax, I need a plan. Think of some excuse!"

"I can't perform under this kind of pressure!"

"Just…imagine everyone in their underwear or something!"

"That's worse!" Hunter took a break from his internal argument to notice that Dynal was staring at him intently. He quickly remembered that Dinaurians can sense Spinax talking.

"…triple shit."

"Oh wow, you're a dinaurian!" Todd also took note of Dynal, "I just thought you were really into face paint."

"Face…paint?" Dynal shook his head, "no matter. Pleased to meet you two. I am King Dynal XVI of the dinaurians." Todd shot a surprised glance at Hunter, then quickly bowed. To Hunter's surprise, Dynal chuckled.

"There is no need for that, I am hardly royalty."

"That much is apparent." Said another voice. This one Hunter recognized instantly.

"Quadrup-…oh screw it." Dynal has moved to the side to reveal Duna. Up close, Hunter could see that she had changed a bit with age just like him. Duna used to be slightly taller than Hunter, now she was a little shorter. Her eyes were a more vivid yellow, almost like the sun. Hunter felt himself melt in front of her.

"Hey Todd," Hunter leaned on his friend, attempting to look sick, "I don't feel so good, maybe we should le-Ugh, leave." He gave Todd a pleading look, which was acknowledged with a nod."

"Oh man, don't tell me my stomachaches are wearing off on you!" Todd dipped his head under a sagging Hunter's arm and hoisted it up, "it was really nice to meet you all, we'll see you later." Together, the two walked out of the lobby.

"What a strange pair," Duna commented.

Done! See Hunter, not exactly a prime Christmas special.

Hunter: I still don't get it.

Spinax: pretty sure it's obvious at this point.

Thanks. See Hunter? Even Spinax gets it. It's not a Christmas special because-

Spinax: there was no mistletoe in that last scene!

Exact-wait…

Spinax: c'mon, the audience is dying for some action!

I give up.

Hunter:….I still don't get it. What's mistletoe?


	52. Chapter 52

Journey of the soul chapter 52

THIS IS IT PEOPLE! THE NEW YEAR! I NEED ALL THESE DECORATIONS UP ASAP!

Hunter: spinax, Hand me that glue-gun.

Spinax: righto, here's the confetti cannon while you're at it.

Hunter: wait, who ordered the confetti canon?

Spinax: the better question is, why hasn't the second one arrived yet.

Hunter:…cross, you need to stop enabling him.

DON'T CARE! ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

Hunter was walking through a dimly lit stone hallway. He ran one hand along the roughly carved walls and held a torch in front of him with the other.

"What sort of dream is this?" Hunter has had strange dreams like this before, but never was he aware of a dream before he woke up. Still he had no control over the situation. His only option was to walk in this hallway until he woke up. It was almost comforting, knowing that he could stop worrying for a while.

Hunter continued down the path until the scenery started to morph. The stone walls became metallic and purple. Whirring noises could be heard in the background and multiple lines of power could be viewed from above on the ceiling. Before Hunter knew it, he had walked right into the idolcomp room on the dinaurian ship. The familiar setting layer out before him, but was it really all that familiar. Instead of the four idolcomps, four souls adorned the tops of the metal pillars. Each was a brilliant flame that burned a different color. One was pure white, the other was a bright emerald green. What caught Hunter's attention the most was that the two souls closest to the main idolcomp were both a deep blue.

"One of those is mine." He thought to himself.

"Interested?" A voice mumbled. Hunter looked around, trying to find its source…nope nothing. There was no one on his bed but him…wait a minute.

"Oh c'mon." Hunter begrudgingly opened his eyes further as the sun peaked through the blinds. He rolled over to check his clock and was met with a faded green wall.

"Right, not the same room," Hunter sat up, banged his head on Todd's top bunk, debates whether or not he should wake up Todd with an air horn, then decided to start making breakfast.

"Hey spinax!" he called out with his mind.

"Good morning sunshine," spinax commented, "what's for breakfast?"

"You're in a good mood this morning." Hunter lay three strips of bacon onto a pan.

"I'm just happy you haven't looked in a mirror yet." Hunter contemplated what Spinax had said, then dashed to the bathroom. Yep, bed hair. Really bad bed head.

"Oh man, gonna need a fire extinguisher put out this mess."

"That's not the only thing you'll need a fire extinguisher for." Spinax replied, sounding much more like spinax usually did in the morning.

"Hey Hunter!" He heard Todd call, now awake, from the kitchen, "is something burning?" Hunter smelled what would've been bacon being burned to ash in the kitchen.

"This was your plan all along huh." Hunter grumbled. Spinax laughed, then yawned.

After some clean up and a hearty breakfast of toaster waffles, Hunter and Todd changed into their regular attire and set out for the day.

"So," Hunter clasped his hands behind his head as they walked to the plaza, "what was the new dig site again?"

"Uh, Mt. Krakanak. I think," Todd checked his paleopager, "oh hey, says here that the new dig site is on cranial island!"

"The one that's shaped like a skull?"

"Yep, I guess we'll take a helicopter."

"Sounds like a dandy place for children." Spinax remarked, "I should take my grandkids there someday."

"Aren't your grandkids dead?"

"Probably." Hunter gave a nervous laugh. The two boys tried to move to the front of a large crowd around the helipad. After waiting for the crowd to die down, they had a clear shot to get on the helicopter.

"Let's go!" Todd dashed towards the awaiting helicopter. Hunter attempted to follow him, but had to stop abruptly when someone ran by him.

"Hey, watch out!" Hunter spun to the left and almost fell.

"Sorry!" That person called as they continued running.

"Red alert! Spinax overboard!" Spinax shouted as his medal fell out of Hunter's holder and began to careen down the street.

"Crap!" Hunter chased after spinax, who was attempting to use bursts of wind to slow himself. This really only made him harder to catch.

"Spinax, calm down! It's not like you're going to fall into the ocean."

"WHATDODYOUSAY?!" Spinax shouted back, launching himself into the air. Hunter grabbed the medal in mid-flight and snapped it back into his holder. Hunter was about to tell spinax to stop shouting when he heard rotor blades revving up rapidly. The helicopter was already off the ground by the time he ran back to the helipad.

"Hunter!" He heard Todd shout over the noise.

"Don't worry! I'll catch the next one!" Hunter had no idea whether or not Todd had actually heard him or not over the now fully active rotor blades. Hunter watched the helicopter lift higher off the ground and eventually fly off to the north.

"Well, guess we'll just wait for the next one." Hunter parked himself on a park bench.

"…wanna play cards?" Spinax asked.

"How do you even…sure." Playing cards with spinax usually entails looking like a loser that plays 2-player card games by himself. After several lost rounds due to spinax being able to see Hunter's thoughts, the card game was abruptly ended when someone moved to sit down at the end.

"Oh, sorry." Hunter quickly moved the cards without looking up at the person.

"Hey!" Spinax protested, "I was winning!"

"You always win." The person who just sat down laughed. Both Hunter and Spinax froze. It was Alvis.

"Hello there young man, don't worry about the cards. I was quite the player myself back in the day."

"What kind of games did you play sir?" Hunter feigned ignorance. Maybe Alvis wouldn't pick up on it.

"Quite a few, although my favorite would have to be X marks the spot."

"Wow, am I that obvious?" Hunter cut the act immediately.

"Incredibly obvious. To me at least." Alvis winked under his sunglasses, "so Hunter, what brings you to the caliosteo islands. Have you decided to fulfill my request?" Alvis was of course, referring to when Hunter was still on the run. They had met up on the mainland. Alvis asked Hunter to go to the caliosteo islands before. He said he had someone he wanted Hunter to meet.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that. But as to the reason I'm here, the caliosteo cup."

"Ah, yes. That does make sense, especially with the reward being what it is. You and Spinax must be excited yes?"

"Weren't you at my matches?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah," spinax added, "third row down from the top. The guy giving us the stink eye." Alvis smiled.

"I had my suspicions about you when I saw the way you were fighting. I came here to confirm my suspicions."

"Hmm," Hunter wasn't sure he bought that, "so, this person you want me to meet," he said the next part in his mind, "they wouldn't happen to have anything to do with specimen Z, would they?"

"Still haven't forgotten about us specimens?"

"Hardly," this confirmed what Hunter had been thinking for a long time. Alvis was another specimen, a Human-Dinaurian hybrid just like him. Not only that, he knew where the last specimen is.

"Then again. If you are competing in the cup, then you will meet soon enough." Alvis shuffles in place, "I think you'll find her quite likable,"

"Her?" But when Hunter turned, Alvis had already disappeared.

"Damn it. I'll never understand that guy."

"He is quite mysterious, isn't he." Hunter froze at the sound of that voice. He recognized it immediately.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" Spinax slammed his head against the walls of Hunter's mind. Duna had just sat down where Alvis had left. Hunter could hear his heart in his head.

"Duna, right?" Hunter desperately tried to calm his nerves, "you were with Rosie the other day."

"Yes, that is correct," Duna studied the ground for a moment, "and you are…Todd, correct?"

"Yes, absolutely." He didn't bother concealing his devilish smile.

"You shouldn't smile like that. People will be afraid of you."

"What? Oh, I guess so," Hunter chuckled a bit. This turned out better than he could've hoped for. He and Duna talked to pass the time. Hunter, true to the act, was very interested in dinaurian life, and Duna had no problem with telling him. It was nice to be able to talk to her again. Hunter loved how she could be genuinely interested in the most minute things, or how she's never afraid to speak her mind. The conversation continued even as they both boarded the helicopter.

"Wait," Hunter feigned surprise, "so you actually encased yourselves in stone?"

"Yes, it was actually quite simple."

"….I'll take your word for it." Hunter stared out the window at the ocean. He smiled to himself.

"Why do you stare at the ocean so often?" Duna asked him suddenly.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know. I guess…" he closed his eyes and remembered the cool breeze of ocean air on captain travers' boat.

"It brings back good memories." Hunter gave a genuine smile. He picked a bottle of water out of his backpack.

"I see. I can understand that, I get the same feeling when I look at you."

"Than-ggzzrts!" Hunter spat the water in his mouth back into the bottle, "what?!" His mind began racing. Has he been figured out?

"You remind me of a friend of mine." Duna explained. Both Hunter and spinax's sighs were audible.

"So I guess that means we're friends then?" Duna then did something that Hunter never would've expected. She giggled.

"I suppose we are." The helicopter slowly touched down on solid ground once again. Hunter jumped off and scanned the surrounding area for Todd. No luck, he probably already went to the new dig site.

"Well, see ya." Hunter held out a hand and Duna promptly shook it.

"Farewell Todd." She turned and walked towards the fighters station. Hunter watched her disappear behind the doors.

"You can talk now." He told spinax.

"Revival machine Christ." Spinax whispered, "try cutting it a little closer next time."

"Yeah, I know. That one's on me. I just…wanted to talk to her."

"…"

"…"

"Ok then,"

"Don't say it."

"Turtle dove."

"Dammit!"

"Mwhahahahahahahaoh hey, isn't that the old guy that passed out in the jungle?" Spinax directed Hunter's attention to professor Scatterly, who was bounding his way towards him.

"If it isn't Hunter! How are you lad?" The professor gave Hunter a pat on the back.

"Doing pretty good doc," he replied.

"What's this guys name again?" Spinax began raking his brain.

"C'mon, we didn't meet him that long ago."

"I've got it!...doctor…scrambled?"

"Professor Scatterly."

"Potato, potato….wait a minute." Hunter turned his attention back to the professor, who was gesturing for him to follow.

"Come along my boy! If you are on cranial island, you simply must come and see my museum!" Hunter nodded, a museum sounded genuinely interesting to him.

"I'll be napping if you need me," spinax yawned.

"Spinax, you're the one that needs a history lesson way more than I do. It could be enrich-"

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!" Spinax screeched. Hunter rolled his eyes and followed Scatterly into a rectangular building. Inside was an assortment of odd artifacts from a strange purple mask with slightly glowing red eyes to a large bone that undoubtedly belonged to a dinosaur.

"And here we are!" Professor Scatterly proudly presented four pedestals bear the back of the room. On two of the pedestals were Calio tablets.

"In all its glory, the first of the four calio tablets!" Scatterly presented the tablet to the far left, "you simply must read it! The translation is on the plaque under it." Hunter studied the ancient depictions on the tablet before turning his attention to the plaque.

"Among the vast land of the three islands of caliosteo, all three were ruled by the sorcerer Zongazonga. Claiming to be a god, Zongazonga used dark magic to force his subjects into a fearful submission."

"Sounds like an everyday asshole," spinax commented.

"How many assholes do you know with dark magic?"

"In order for me to answer that, we need to time to leave."

"…fine." After saying goodbye to Professor, Hunter left the museum and walked out into the blazing hot sun.

"Sheesh," Hunter took off his jacket and place it in his bag, "we haven't even gotten to the volcano yet."

"… … …"

"What's wrong?"

"You and Todd are both minors by human standards right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"This place is letting minors go to active volcanoes!"

"Chill, this isn't even the first time we've been somewhere covered in lava."

"HOLY CRAP YOU'RE RIGHT!" Hunter ignored the screaming and continued down the path that l ad to mt. Krakanak. Instead of a path, however, it led to a large blue machine. Hunter slowly walked into the door compartment of the machine, which was big enough to fit about twenty people.

"What's this thing?" Hunter studied the interior and looked out through the glass door.

"…portapotty?" Spinax suggested.

"What kind of a portapotty has…" Hunter trailed off. He had blink mid sentence. But when he opened his eyes, the outside world was now a mountainous path that led to a massive volcano in the distance.

"Well, that's a new one." Hunter walked out of the machine and studied it, "I guess the dinaurian's warping technology catches on quick."

"Makes sense, they did evolve from my species after all," spinax took on a pompous accent, "it's no wonder they're geniuses."

"If they're anything like you, it's a wonder they haven't all killed each other."

"I WILL GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!"

"I'll stick your medal in my back pocket."

"…what did you have for lunch again."

"Chili, with about a gallon of hot sauce."

"…Todd's up ahead." Satisfied with "winning" the conversation, Hunter walked up the trail and slowly made his way to the green blob in the distance that was undoubtedly Todd, stopping occasionally to uncover some fossils. When Hunter did reach him, Todd waved him over.

"Hey Hunter, digging hard or hardly digging?" Todd himself was covered In dirt smudges and scuff Marks.

"I don't think it matters how much I've been digging. From the looks of it, it's not nearly as much as you have."

"Huh? Oh." Todd looked over himself, "guess my clothes have seen better days huh?"

"Yeah, like any day other than this one."

"I thought I heard high pitched noises of excitement, there was little doubt it was you two." Hunter and Todd turned to see that Rupert had walked up behind them. Further behind Rupert was a floating robot that was similar in structure to a KL-33N, only it was a dark purple color.

"Rupert! Are you looking for fossil rocks for round three?" Todd nervously eyed the robot.

"Don't be ridiculous, my vivosaurs are already skilled enough for the third round," Rupert walked aside to display the robot, "I came here to test DI66-R, a prototype digging assistant developed by fossildig inc.."

"Greetings sir or madam." The robot beeped, "pleased to make your acquaintance."

"This contraption has a built in sonar and full excavating capabilities," Rupert went on to explain.

"Cool, does it do smoke signals too?" Hunter asked, "or should I be worried about that." DI66-R had started smoking from the back and was uttering a long line of random numbers.

"What the-" Rupert started.

"ERROR ERROR." The robot spun rapidly, striking Rupert in the stomach and knocking him backwards. It glided away up the bridge that led to the volcano itself.

"No no no no NO!" Rupert struggled to push himself off the ground, "that machine has my Dino medals and an auto battle system!" He got to his knees before collapsing.

"Woah hey!" Todd pulled Rupert back up to his knees, "take it easy, you took a big hit there."

"But, I must! For the good of the company…ugh." Hunter stared at the bridge and the volcano behind it.

"Todd, make sure Rupert gets help, I'll stop the robot."

"You sure Hunter?"

"Don't worry," Hunter grinned, "I've got this."

"Just another day at the office Eh?" Spinax mused.

"Pretty much."

Done! And done with decorating too.

Hunter: that definitely took a while.

It would've been less time if SOMEONE didn't order confetti cannons.

Spinax: you said you didn't care!

I say that about a lot of things! Most of which I don't really mean!

Spinax: how am I supposed to pick up on sarcasm?

Hunter: said the pot to the kettle.

…at any rate. Gentlemen, a toast, to the new year and anything it may bring.

All three: Cheers!

Hunter:…hey spinax, is the confetti cannon supposed to glow red?

Spinax: only when it's about to explode

Well then…thanks for reading…we should run.


	53. Chapter 53

Journey of the soul chapter 53

Is that how you do it?

Hunter: no, go down to create, then type in a name.

Oh, what does this do?

Hunter: don't touch that

*click*

Hunter: …congratulations cross, you just shared your search history to the internet.

Eh, you act like the government isn't already watching everything I do.

Spinax: what are you to doing? And what was that about the government watching?

Hunter: Cross is trying to make a forum for the story. Ironically, he's bad with computers.

Hey! I'm great with (typing on) computers!

Spinax: but what about the government? Have you found them? Have they found us? I KNOW YOU'RE LISTENING YOU PALE SKINNED BAS-

Hunter: (shouting over spinax) CROSS DOESN'T OWN FOSSIL FIGHTERS

…okay then, enjoy the chapter.

The ground cracked underfoot as Hunter hoisted himself higher up the cliff face. Sweat decorated his forehead and a vein pulsed as he hugged the rock wall. The root he gripped as leverage was slowly slipping out of the stone.

"I hate architects." He muttered under his breath. The bridge Hunter had crossed in order to chase after Rupert's malfunctioning robot had decided that it would be a fabulous Idea to have one of its wooden boards snap. Of course, this board was the one Hunter had stepped on. Fortunately, he was close enough to edge to grab onto the cliff face. UNfortunately, he was on a cliff face.

"Why don't you just call out a flying vivosaur?" Spinax suggested.

"To do that, I have to let go of the root, and I don't trust my holder to stay on while I fall to my death." Hunter grunted as he tried to reach for a rock above the root that was jutting out. The rock snapped off easily and Hunter's hand hung in free fall for a terrifying moment before gripping onto the root once more.

"Okay! New plan," Hunter removed his feet from their holds and braced them against the rock wall, "I'm gonna kick off the wall." He bent this knees and looked up at the edge of the cliff.

"Three…two…one!" Hunter pushed off and left the rock. When the time was right, he let go of the root and was further launched to the edge. His finger grazed the tip of the solid rock floor before he stopped moving up, suspended in air for a moment.

"Soooooo, should I intervene now or about 50ft down?"

"NOW!" Hunter seized the moment to throw spinax's Dino medal downwards. Spinax appeared in a flash of light. Instead of falling, tornadoes whirled from spinax's feet and propelled Both him and Hunter upwards. Hunter quickly retrieved spinax before they could draw a crowd.

"Thank you! Thank you! Truly, you're too kind." Spinax bowed within Hunter's mind, "I'll be here for the rest of your life!"

"We gotta be more careful, what if someone saw you?"

"What if they did. In case you haven't noticed, EVERYONE HERE has a vivosaur."

"Does everyone have a mega spinax that flies around by shooting cyclones out of their feet?" Spinax grumbled when he said that.

"Kids these days," he muttered.

"I'm 15, can I at least get upgraded to young hooligan or something?" Spinax stayed silent while Hunter continued up the rock path, following the sounds of robotic whirring and buzzing. At first, he thought spinax just didn't have a good comeback, but it was something else entirely.

"How are you 15?"

"my birthday was three months ago before we left for here. Weren't you there?"

"…yeah, that makes sense…huh."

"You alright? You sound like you're losing it."

"Bold of you to assume I had it in the first place." Just like that, spinax was acting normal again. Well, normal for spinax at least. Hunter eventually approached DI66-R from behind on a natural land bridge. The robot was leaking smoke and was sputtering out random words. Suddenly, it jolted upright and turned to face him.

"FIGHTER DETECTED," an electronic voice wheezed, "COMBAT SYSTEM ENGAGED." The robot brandished a Dino medal from…somewhere.

"Woah, hang on a second!" Hunter backed up nervously, "we can't fight here! The bridge'll collapse!" Unfortunately, every robot in the world lacks the common sense to see that. The Dino medal was thrown into the air between the two. What appeared after the bright flash was the stuff of nightmares. A 50 foot snake with red eyes hissed at Hunter.

"Well then, how are yo-" He didn't finish the line as the snake had wrapped it self around the entire land bridge and roared at him with a surprisingly deep roar.

"Alright, fine! Delta!" Hunter called out the smallest vivosaur in his holder (except for maybe the strange one he got from Ryne). Delta launched itself at the snake, which Hunter's vivowatch had called a tophis. Tophis coiled further around the ground and dodge by slithering under the bridge. Delta skidded as it hit the ground. Tophis reared up behind delta and struck it with its flat head.

"Blitz attack!" Delta cloaked itself in water and rushed at tophis once more. This time, when tophis escaped to the underside of the bridge, delta kicked off the ground when it landed and stomped down on part of tophis coiling around the bridge. The ground shook as tophis hiss-roared in pain and anger. It turned itself to face delta and stretched out its neck in an attempt to attack with its fangs. Delta streaked away from tophis, but tripped over part of tophis's body and was knocked prone. TophIs reared up over its prey, no longer wrapped around the land bridge and displaying its full length.

"Counter now!" Delta threw up a shield just before tophis could sink its fangs into It. The shield exploded immediately and tophis was sent reeling backwards. Hunter moved to avoid being flattened by the snake as it collapsed on the ground. As tophis went back to its Dino medal, DI66-R began making noises that sounded like a computer being turned on. Hunter recalled delta and watched.

"SYSTEM RESTORED," the robot spoke flatly, "greetings sir or madam. I am-"

"I've heard," Hunter cut him off.

"I like the blue one better," spinax commented.

"That makes two of us."

"Hey!" Hunter turned to see Todd walking up to him. Rupert was tailing behind him and looking a lot better.

"Nice work man," the two exchanged high fives while Rupert inspected DI66-R.

"You…defeated the robot?" He asked. Hunter clasped his hands behind his head and grinned, "well then, I suppose thanks are in order. When DI66-R is released to the public, you will be the first to receive one."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather do all the digging myself."

"You…enjoy the work of a fossil fighter?"

"Of course I do! It's fun."

"And I get to kick giant monsters in places that'd rather not be named," spinax chimed in, "it's a win-win for everyone."

"Hmm," Rupert mused to himself while Todd and Hunter decided to head back to Cranial city, "those two are quite the amusing pair."

Back at Cranial city, Hunter and Todd has just arrived back.

"I'm going to go get some lunch," Todd stated, "you wanna come with me? We can get the competitors discount."

"Actually, there's something I need to do first," Hunter replied, "You go on ahead and get food, I'll meet up with you later." With that, the two went in separate directions. Todd went to the fossil guild while Hunter made his way back to the fighters lodge. When they made the trip to cranial island, their belongings had been teleported to the fighters lodge so they wouldn't have to make trips between islands. Of course, this just made spinax wonder why they even need a helicopter to get around.

"It's probably just really expensive to make ones that transport people across islands instantly," Hunter tried to explain to him again.

"I agree to disagree," Spinax more than likely just ends the conversation because they had reached Hunter's room. Hunter immediately reached under the bottom of the bunk bed he and Todd share and pulled out a brown duffel bag. In it were most of his belongings from vivosaur island, ones that no one else could see. His fighters license protruded out of one of the pockets, proudly displaying the letter M to represent Hunter's master status. A small photo album of picture Hunter had taken with the camera Rosie had given him lay at the bottom. Hunter pushed it aside, along with the blue hologram pendant Hunter could use to make himself look like a dinaurian. His reached towards the middle of his original visor and pulled out what he had been looking for. Hunter removed a small black box from the bag.

"When did we get that?" Spinax asked.

"Alvis gave it to me while I was hiding, he said it would answer a few questions when he couldn't." Hunter opened the box for the first time and pulled out a neatly folded slip of paper.

"How life changing," spinax snorted. Hunter ignored him and unfolded the paper. The first half was a letter.

Hunter. If you are reading this, then you must be at the caliosteo islands. As you already know, I came to these islands to prepare for a grave threat to not only this place, but to possibly this entire planet.

"Oh joy, we get to do THIS again," Hunter didn't bother hiding his irritation. Last time he was dragged into a world threatening adventure, almost everyone was killed.

Worry not for now. I have a plan. You see, while you have been traveling under the eyes of the law, I have begun to set my plan in motion to prevent this threat. You have been a part of this plan, along with specimen Z.

The letter stopped to show an information sheet comparable to the ones at the dinaurian spaceship about specimens.

Specimen Z: 14%D/86%H

SUCCESS: Daughter of Zenith

Whereabouts: known

Soul: returned

Attributes:

Enhanced physical/mental capabilities

Heightened Perception

?

WARNING: Due to a gene splicing incident, specimen Z has become a threat to the Dinaurian race. Ejection to earth is recommended.

Hunter shivered. What power could make the dinaurians, the would-be destroyers of the human race, fear for the lives of their entire species? He continued reading the letter.

Quite the little firecracker, isn't she? She will be of great use to the plan and I believe you two will get along wonderfully. Unfortunately, she also needs your help. I've been her instructor for quite a while now, but her progress, while admirable, is not where it needs to be. Hunter Cloud, I ask that you take up mentoring Lila Frost in order to teach her how to master the technique you call Soulflame.

Best of luck

Alvis.

"…frost is a cool last name." Hunter commented.

"We totally just got suckered into doing Alvis's work for him," Spinax replied with the same lack of emotion as Hunter.

"Yeah, that explains why I wanted to come here in the first place, Alvis probably used that weird Clairvoyance thing he can do."

"So…that's why we're here?"

"That and the caliosteo cup I guess. I don't….really….remember….dammit! Not again!" Hunter ruffles his hair while he cursed himself. How could he get amnesia AGAIN? Nothing horrible could've happened in the past seven months to trigger it while he was in hiding. The worst time he could think of was the one month period he felt soulless again, but that was just because of fatigue and frustration from hiding. Hunter shook his head furiously, as if that would help. He decided not to think about it too much. If anything was like it was, he'll get those memories back eventually.

"Hunter! Come and see this!" Hunter heard Todd call from down the hall. Hunter immediately shoved his stuff back in the bag and kicked it under his bed. He got up and saw Todd practically jumping at the end of the hall.

"The mammoth vision is out there!" Todd pointed towards the window. Sure enough, the flying Jumbotron was floating in the distance.

"What's the big deal? It's probably just some kind of public service announcement."

"I would agree with you except for one thing. The mammoth vision was reported stolen yesterday." Hunter and Todd exchanged looks.

"We should go." The two raced down the hall and out of the fighters lodge. They joined a now large crowd gathered around the blank screen. When it turned on, the face greeting them was not Joe Wildwest by a long shot.

"Fools! Bow before my greatness!" The voice laughed. The person the voice belonged to revealed themselves to be wearing a regal black and white robe with a crown adorning their skull….SKULL?! THAT's A TALKING SKULL!

"These islands will belong to me! Don Boneyard! Leader of the barebones brigade!" Hunter froze in place. Don boneyard went on to explain how the path to mt. Krakanak had been blocked and they were going to ruin the cup. Hunter wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying, he was focused on the ink black darkness that separated boneyard's skull from his clothes.

There's nothing there.

"…Todd, we need to go."

"Go? Go where?"

"It's pretty obvious." With that, Hunter started running.

"Hey! Wait up!" Struggled to catch up as Hunter sprinted down to the teleporter to Mt. Krakanak. With a few button presses, both of them were on the path to the volcano.

"What's with you man?" Todd didn't sound angry when he spoke, more like confusion, "the staff at the station can take care of this."

"I….don't know." Hunter didn't know what was going on. How can that man be just a skull? Barebones brigade? Why did they sound so much like the BB bandits? Why does he even care? Hunter skidded to a halt in front of a large builder, completely taking up the narrow path.

"Let me kill it," spinax growled.

"You need to let go of your grudge with large rocks."

"NEVER!" Hunter sighed. The path was too narrow for spinax anyway. Hunter struck the rock with his foldax. It knocked off a small chunk of the stone, but was barely noticeable.

"This thing's on a whole other level than us." Todd commented.

"Not if you drop that defeatist attitude!" Hunter struck the rock again. When he reeled back for another strike, Todd slammed his own pickax into the boulder. The two attacked the stone, but barely left a dent.

"At this rate, we'll all be old and wrinkled before the boulder is gone," Rupert walked up between the two.

"You gonna stand there or are you gonna help?" Hunter shot back as he struck the rock again.

"As much as I'd like to continue this pointless banter, I believe that DI66-R can perform this task." On cue, the robot pulled itself up to the boulder. Hunter and Todd stepped to the side as the robot attacked the rock, removing chunks simply by punching.

"Digging digging digging digging." DI66-R continued digging for an extended period of time. Within minutes, the boulder was gone. (Cross: skipped the scene with robot bonding.)

"Now then, time to find the culprits," Rupert walked through the reshaped path.

"Well, looks like Rupert can handle this," Todd stuttered, "we should go back now…Hunter?" Hunter was staring up at the volcano.

"Time to kick tail?" Spinax asked.

"Why not?"

"I like the way you think." Hunter turned towards Todd.

"I'm gonna go with Rupert," He stated, "you comin' with?"

"W-what? Well, I would b-but…ooooooh! My stomach! I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much for lunch. Sorry Hunter. I don't think I can go."

Hunter nodded, "take it easy then, I'll go on ahead." Hunter trudged down the rock path, all the while looking up at the mountain trail.

"Y'know, I feel like we do this whole world's savior schtick a little too many times," spinax shrugged.

"Honestly? Yeah, the world hasn't exactly been too kind to us either." Hunter more or less resented the current state of his world, even if the reason the world had been so crappy to him was his own fault. Sure, he could've ratted our the dinaurians and gotten off Scott free for killing one. Albeit, that was a choice that Hunter made. It was either his life going down the gutter or every single dinaurian being left either hunted down or homeless. He couldn't do that to them.

"Maybe you should try meditation," spinax suggested.

"How would that help?"

"I've heard it calms the mind. Now sit back, relax, and listen to the smoo-ghack, hurgh!...smooth sound of my voice." Hunter simply stopped clenching his fists.

"Now, picture a world in your ideal image. What kind of world is it?"

"A world…where anyone can be anything they want to be without having to worry about the things that could stop them. A world where people don't have to live being told they aren't good enough, or won't amount to anything. A world where people can be-"

"Great, now shove that image into a dark corner, beat it up, slap it, put a hole in it, shove a cigar down its throat, rip its ear off and set it on fire because it's GO TIME COACH!" Hunter's vision was shattered in an instant. He crouched down before being spotted by what he was certain are two members of the barebones brigade. They wore sleek black full-body suits with skeletal patterns.

"Hunter." Hunter jumped at the voice whispering to him. Rupert was further ahead, also hidden from view. Hunter slowly walked over.

"Are these the guys?"

"Undoubtedly. Are you prepared for battle."

"Heh, I should be asking you that." Hunter and Rupert scales the rest of the path to be within earshot of the grunts.

"You think we should go check on our boulder?" One asked the other.

"Nah, there's no way anyone could get past it."

"Actually we reduced your boulder into pebbles." Rupert announced their presents.

"Props for the comeback," spinax tipped a nonexistent hat.

"W-what?! How could anyone get past our impenetrable roadblock?"

"Your plan to stop fighters with giant dinosaurs at their command…was a rock?" Hunter's eye twitched of shear stupidity, "…Rupert, you take the one on the left. S-Raptor!" Hunter called out his vivosaur as the grunts were brandishing Dino medals.

"Lambeo!" Two dead lambeo appeared.

"What the-!" Hunter barely had time to register that the lambeo where skeletal versions of the original vivosaurs before one of them charged into S-raptor and started grappling.

"How'd you like our boneysaurs, pipsqueak! Special gift straight from don boneyard!"

"Oh come now, that's just absurd. Mapo!" Rupert called his own vivosaur into battle. With a small area to move in, Hunter attempted to choose a smaller vivosaur. S-raptor kicked lambeo away a spewed flames on it while it was stunned. Mapo angled its head and rushed the other lambeo. It's horns locked under the skeleton and mapo roared as it flung lambeo into the air. The other lambeo attempted to do the same to s-raptor.

"S-fury!" The lambeo was met with a flurry of fiery blows that knocked it backwards into wall of the volcano.

"Rupert!" Hunter called, "let S-raptor jump on mapo!" Rupert gave Hunter a strange look, but he didn't hear a no.

"Go!" S-raptor bounded onto Mapo. The larger theropod growled, but didn't attack the hitchhiker.

"Now, jump!" S-raptor launches itself further into the air to meet the now descending lambeo. The lambeo was sent crashing back down with a kick and landed on top of its boney compatriot. Hunter retrieved S-raptor to keep it from getting hurt from the fall.

"Put me in coach!" Spinax shouted, seeing the lambeos reorganizing themselves, "it's only the 2nd quarter!"

"Will do," he had enough room now. But just as Hunter reached for another Dino medal, Rupert called out an attack.

"Aqua cannon." Mapo unleashed a jet of water that slammed into the spot where the lambeos were. They certainly weren't there anymore. The water cascaded into the air as it deflected off the wall. Rain from the blast slowly began to fall.

"I believe that settles that," Rupert prevented to dust off his hands, "unless you two have anymore grievances?" Mapo growled.

"J-just you wait kid, don boneyard and his commanders are gonna grind your bones to dust!" They didn't sound very convincing as they ran away.

"Man, I need to work on fight banter." Hunter told himself, "I'm here standing silent like an idiot while Rupert's here like the next godfather."

"What's a mefather?" Spinax asked.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Hunter was thankfully saved from a comeback by his paleopager going off.

"The 12th match of round three of the caliosteo cup will now commence. Hunter Elwood and Lila Frost, please make your way to the stadium. Hunter gave the Paleopager a look.

"You planned this all along Huh?"

"This guy definently isn't a mefather."

Done! I like how this one turned out. I've wanted to give some attention to Hunter's other vivosaurs without them being "spinax support" for a while.

Hunter: so your plan is to make arena's constantly too small for spinax?

Spinax:…never in my life have I experienced such disrespect for being too big.

Get over it Ridley, things need to be more organized.

Spinax: Ha! That joke doesn't work anymore!

Speaking of organized, the official journey of the soul forum is now up! Go there for all questions about this story, or fossil fighters in general. I do my best to check it and answer any questions you guys/ girls might have.

Hunter: you act like people will actually check it out.

Ha! Probably not. Thanks for reading!


	54. Chapter 54

Journey of the soul chapter 54

It's inconceivable I tell you!

Hunter: what is?

Can you believe this. Downright incredulous

Hunter: okay, it's bad. But what is it?

I still can't believe it to this day.

Hunter: WHAT?!

Honestly, the auda-Oh, when did you get here Hunter?

Hunter:…can we just start the chapter?

Sure, but can you believe thi-

Hunter: START THE CHAPTER!

Footfalls echoed through the empty space as Hunter and Rupert scaled back down the volcano. Their pace was a little quicker than usual due to the next matches of the caliosteo cup starting soon.

"Hey Rupert?"

"What?"

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to win the cup?" Rupert stayed silent for a while after that question.

"Couldn't be for prize money," Hunter said to himself, "he's rich enough already, and I don't see what a regular kid would do with a fossil park if he got one."

"I've got it!" Spinax announced, "he's going to use the park as a stepping stone to get one step closer to world domination through a corrupt corporation!"

"that's stupid."

"You're stupid." At that point, Rupert spoke.

"The fossil park has been a place of interest for my father's company for quite a while. For me to acquire it would mean a profitable expansion for fossildig incorporated." He said with a flat tone to his voice.

"Ha! I was half right! Capitalism lives on!"

"Yeah, that would make sense." Hunter replied. The two were silent for the rest of the way down the mountain.

"Hey!" Todd waved once he saw them. Hunter gave Todd a two finger salute.

"How'd it go up there? Did you find any of the barebones brigade?"

"Yeah, there were a couple grunts." Hunter clasped his hands behind his back, "but nothing we couldn't handle. Right Rupert?"

"Indeed." Rupert seemed put off by Hunter being friendly.

"At any rate Hunter, we need to get you back to the stadium for the next match!" Todd grabbed Hunter by the wrist. PTSD flashbacks ensued.

"WAIT!" Hunter shouted, "I can walk on my own," Todd have Hunter a strange look, but let go nonetheless. The two boys jogged back to the teleporter. After pressing random buttons and giving it a good kick, they were transported back to cranial city.

"Alright, time to get to the station," Hunter straightened his goggles and tightened his gloves.

"Is that some sort of pre-fight ritual or something?" Todd smirked.

"I guess you could say that," Hunter checked his vivowatch and paleopager at the same time. His match would start in about ten minutes from now.

"Well, I'm gonna go ahead and get to the lobby."

"Right, and I'll find some good seats!"

"And I'll…kick tail?" Spinax chimed in hopefully. Hunter shook his head.

"Sorry bud, I'm not making any calls until I see what this girl has up her sleeves."

"Gotcha Coach, I'll keep the bench warm." Hunter nodded. He and Spinax has come a long way too. He could easily remember a time when not using spinax would devolve into a shouting match. Todd and Hunter both walked into the station, but went in two different directions.

"Good luck!" Todd called.

"Don't jinx it!" Hunter called back. He entered the common room and gave a quick look around. He was the only person there.

"Alright, game plan. From what Alvis said, this girl has got to be good. And if she really was a threat to dinaurians, then I think the best thing to do would be to play it safe." Hunter pulled out Dino medals for Delta and S-raptor.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand?" Spinax rocked back and forth. Hunter chuckled.

"That'll be up to what she does."

"Speaking of she, do we even know what to expect?"

"No idea, but we'll find out soon eno-"

"Hey you!" Hunter's eyes snapped back to attention. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone.

"Who's there?" Hunter left hand flew to his holder while the right went to his foldax.

"Down here!" Hunter's eyes drifted down. A small girl was standing there tapping their sandal against the ground impatiently. A blank expression marked Hunter's face.

"…Are you…Lila Frost?"

"No, I'm Hunter Elwood Oh wait, that's you."

"I'm guessing Alvis filled you in then." Hunter let his muscles relax, "sorry, I was just expecting someone…older."

"I'm not a kid!" Lila protested, "I'm already 8!" Hunter laughed in spite of himself.

"This is a precious child that must be protected," spinax said with no humor in his voice.

"Sorry, guess I couldn't tell." Hunter couldn't help but smile, "I've heard a lot about you from Alvis too. He's says you're pretty strong."

"Of course I am!" Lila puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips, "I'm gonna win the cup and be the best fighter ever! Even better than Hunter Cloud!"

"You sure you want to be like Hunter Cloud?" Hunter played along. If the kid didn't know about him, then he wasn't about to tell her, "I heard he's kind of a bad person."

"I don't care about that! There's no way he's a bad guy!" Lila had a strange determined look on her face.

"I reiterate, protect this child," spinax said again.

"Agreed," Hunter extended his hand to Lila, "well, I aim to be the best too, so this fight is sure to be interesting."

"Right, I'm not gonna lose." Lila shook Hunter's hand as the door to the stadium opened.

"Sweet kid," spinax commented, "…well, time to blow her to hell now."

"That took a 180 real quick, I thought you liked Lila?"

"I do, now let's crush her dreams." Hunter accepted the grim reality. I matter what, one of them had to lose, and Hunter wasn't going to back down after coming this far already. As they walked to opposite ends of the arena, Hunter wondered if the crowd could see the grim look on his face.

"Hunter!" He heard a voice call before it was drowned out by the roar of the crowd, Hunter looked to see Todd shouting. He couldn't make out what was being said, but he knew enough to k ow that Todd wouldn't want him to act this way.

"Right. Right. Screw off depression." Hunter gave Todd a thumbs-up before taking his place.

"Compso! Dimetro!" Lila called out a small brown raptor-like vivosaur and a quadrupedal red vivosaur with a sail adorning its back. Hunter waited for the third one, but it didn't come.

"Hmm…" Hunter already noticed Lila didn't have any digging equipment on her, but only two vivosaurs?

"Aeros! Tricera!" As Hunter called out his "hold back" team, he noticed that Lila was glaring at him from the other side of the stadium. Did she realize he wasn't giving it his all?

"Dimetro! Use charge!" Red bolts of electricity crackled around dimetro, "Compso, back!" Compso moved behind dimetro.

"Gasp! Your only weakness, strategy."

"Shut up Spinax," it was true though, most of Hunter's more recent matches have been in the moment fights with little strategic planning. He could already tell, even with his stronger vivosaurs, that this was going to be difficult.

"Enflame on Aeros!" Tricera thundered as blue flames whipped around Aeros, reminding Hunter of soulflame.

"Wind blast!" Aeros reared up at dimetro and roared out a blast of wind, but the small red vivosaur was barely fazed. Dimetro retaliated with a tail whip that sent Aeros flying backwards into the wall. It cracked the stone buffer as it crashed.

"What the?" Hunter quickly checked his vivowatch. Aeros had lost about 75% of its health in one hit, while dimetro was barely scratched.

"Wait a minute, Compso's support effects…" Hunter glared at the small raptor. As long as Compso was in the back, Hunter's attacks would be one tenth of their ordinary strength. Not to mention that any defense he had was shattered by the support effects too.

"Not bad!" Hunter called to Lila, "pairing Compso's support effects with dimetro's charge for a massive hit. You're pretty good Lila!"

"I'm not gonna let up just because you're being nice!" Lila shouted back, "don't think you can pull that on me!"

"Didn't plan on it! Running smash!" Tricera wasn't as affected by the support affects, so it was able to land a solid hit on Compso.

"Dimetro whirl!" Using its sail as a buzz saw, dimetro spun in the air towards tricera, electricity sparked up around it.

"Aeros special!" Aeros fired a stream of green energy at dimetro. Once again, the damage was nothing special, but dimetro was knocked off balance and missed tricera.

"Now! Enflame once more, then tri-torpedo!" Tricera surrounded itself in flames this time. Blue energy surrounded it in a spiral as tricera slammed into Compso, returning it to its Dino medal.

"No! Dimeteor!" Dimetro fired multiple meteors at tricera, but without support effects and charge, they were easily resisted.

"Cyclonic breath!" Aeros fired a massive laser at Dimetro. Hunter watched as the vivosaur disappeared in the blinding light. Hunter recalled his vivosaurs

"That seemed…too easy."

"C'mon dude," spinax protested, "she is just a kid,"

"No, it's not that. I think I'm not the only one who was holding back." Hunter watched Lila slowly walk back into the common room before following. He was happy the crowd quickly filed away anyone that wanted to talk to him as he reached the lobby. Right now, there was only one person he needed to talk too.

"Hey," he found her on the bench near the exit, her eyes were hidden through long blond hair.

"…not fair…" she muttered. Hunter watched a tear fall onto her clenched hand. It broke his heart.

"It's not fair! I wanted to win more than anyone. Why…why can't I be strong enough to win?"

"What'd you mean?" Hunter gently lifted lila's chin, "you battled better than some of the strongest people I've faced. You're strong Lila, you just need someone to help you." Hunter felt a pang of guilty nostalgia. He had gone through the hopeless feeling of not being strong enough, he wasn't about to let someone else walk through the hell he did.

"Fantastic you two!" Hunter and Lila both turned towards the sound of clapping. Alvis had now walked up to them both.

"That was quite a well fought battle Lila, I'm very proud of you."

"But…I didn't win," Lila sniffed, "and now…nana…"

"Hmm?" Hunter looked towards Alvis for an explanation.

"Ah, she hasn't told you. Lila's grandmother has fallen ill. At her elder age, the virus that infected her is fatal. Lila wanted to win the cup with the secondary goal of paying for the expensive medicine that would save her."

"I see." Hunter could understand that. Even with the prize money he won for beating saurhead, Hunter still couldn't afford most higher up medicine.

"I could've won," Lila tensed up, "but you said not to use it. Why gramps?"

"Gramps? Alvis, what's going on?"

"I say we bite him," spinax grunted. For a moment, Hunter agreed with him.

"Hunter, Lila, I'm sure you both know that I've been awaiting your meeting for quite some time. Lila, I have already told you why your abilities should not be used during the tournament. However, you will get your chance to use them in a battle with Hunter."

"Another fight?" Hunter stepped in front of Lila, "don't you think the kid should take it easy for a while?"

"I'm not a kid!" Lila protested. Alvis laughed.

"Lila, there is a reason that I wanted Hunter to meet you. You see, he is going to train you to become a great fighter."

"What?! But I don't need help! I'm already strong! Hunter said so!" Hunter gave Alvis a look. Why didn't he already tell Lila about the training?

"You are strong, but not strong enough." Strong enough for what, Alvis didn't specify, "Hunter will teach you to master your abilities, just as he has his own." At this Lila look up at Hunter with hopeful emerald colored eyes.

"You're like me?" Lila whispered. Hunter didn't know what to say. Does she know the truth about her past. He looked at Alvis, who shook his head.

"Yeah, I am. Lila, I'm sorry that you lost in the cup, but there's something really important that I'm fighting for too." Lila wipes the marks of tears from her eyes.

"Well, I may have lost now, but just you wait! I'll still be the best fossil fighter ever! And I'll start by going all out and beating you!" She pointed a finger at Hunter. He laughed in spite of himself.

"Tough talk kid, let's see if you can back it up."

"Don't call me a kid!"

"This kid is adorable." Spinax commented. Alvis laughed.

"Now then, let's find an arena suitable for this battle."

(Later)

"Here we are." They stopped almost all the way through Mt. krakanak. Since the cup matches were continuing, no one but the three were there.

"Alright, this is your stop." Hunter let Lila off his back, who climbed up there after getting scared of the drop over the edge of the land bridge.

"Alright you two," Alvis walked halfway through a circular rocky outcropping, "each of you will use your strongest vivosaur. Don't hold anything back either. I want to be able to judge your full abilities as well Hunter."

"All right then. Hey Lila!" Hunter called to her from the other side of the rocky platform, "you ready?"

"Ready to win!" Lila called back. Hunter couldn't help but smile.

"Kids these days say the darnedest things," spinax commented.

"Dimetro!"

"Spinax!" Spinax towered over the small vivosaur. Hunter thought it was a little too harsh to go guns blazing on a kid, but Alvis didn't look worried at all.

"Dimetro whirl!" Hunter's attention quickly snapped back to the fight as dimetro began spinning towards Spinax.

"What's the game plan coach?" Spinax sidestepped away from dimetro as it skidded to a stop.

"Nothing flashy, I still don't think this is a good idea. Try a light slash to start." Spinax grunted in agreement and reared back.

"Duck under its claw!" Lila called. Spinax's claws swished through the air above dimetro. He whipped around for a tail attack.

"Jump backwards!" Once again, Lila predicted the attack and dimetro dodged.

"Spinax mega!"

"What happened to pulling punches?"

"I want to test something."

"I like this plan already." Spinax rocketed at dimetro with its fist cloaked in a tornado.

"Dodge left!" Dimetro easily avoided the attack thanks to the guidance. The tornado dissipated and left the wind whirling around the fighters.

"How does she know every move we make?"

"ESP. I'm calling' it right now. The girl has ESPN."

"…you might be right."

"I'm telling ya coach, she-…did you just say I'm right?"

"Spinax Terra!" Hunter called out the attack in his mind. Spinax fired a compressed shot of gale force winds at dimetro.

"Jump!" Once again, the attack was predicted and dodged.

"Dimeteor!" Dimetro fired three meteors at spinax, who blocked with his crystal hide. Wind from spinax's attacks whipped around the arena.

"I'm not done yet!" Lila shouted. Hunter heard the wind pick up once more, "I'm gonna win without taking a single hit!" Lila's hair swirled upwards.

"Not bad!" Hunter called back, "you've almost got the hang of it!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?!"

"THIS!" Hunter's shout echoed in the wind as sparks shot from his eye and ignited into a blazing blue flame. Spinax let out an earth shaking roar as his crystals changed in color from green to blue. Hunter looked down at himself and flexed his fingers. It was good to be back.

"Soulfire!" Spinax sucked in before letting out a burst of blue flames.

"Jump!...wait no!" Dimetro jumped into the air to dodge the flames, only to get slightly picked up by the wind. Hunter had predicted this though, and spinax was already up in the air with dimetro.

"Falling Star!" Spinax fired flames from his feet to lift himself higher than dimetro, then came crashing down while engulfed in fire. Dimetro crashed to earth, leaving a massive indent in the makeshift arena. Spinax loomed over dimetro, who was struggling to push itself off the ground.

"That's enough for today!" Alvis called. Spinax backed up as Lila ran to her vivosaur. The emotion on her face was hard to describe. As Hunter began to walk over, soulflame remained active. Something was off. While in his ascended state, he could sense…something. To be safe, Hunter let soulflame dissolve.

"Lila, do you see why I wish for Hunter to teach you?" Lila looked at Hunter with a sense of awe.

"You're…you're," she sputtered.

"Yep." Hunter clasped his hands behind his head, "I never did properly introduce myself. The name's Hunter. Hunter Cloud."

Done! This was a fun one to write. Especially since it's the return of soulflame.

Hunter: Almost makes you wonder why I don't use it more often….*cough*

Spinax: I see what you did there.

I'm not paying attention to what you did there. No flaming eyeball for you.

Hunter: Why not? It's inconceivable I tell you!

….I see what you did there. Thanks for reading.


	55. Chapter 55

Journey of the soul chapter 55

Hey Guys, do you think the chapters are too short?

Hunter: isn't it all a matter of perspective?

Spinax: everything's short from my perspective.

Wow, thanks for the straightforward answer guys.

Hunter: no problem

Spinax: anytime buddy

Seriously though. I want chapters to have enough content to be entertaining, but I don't want them to take too much time. You know, short attention spans and all.

Hunter: I'm sorry, what'd you say? I stopped paying attention after "I"

…part of me wonders why I even bother with you two

Spinax: enjoy the chapter!

"Can you fly?"

"No."

"Can you breath fire?"

"No."

"Can you control fire?"

"To an extent with soulflame, but only with my eye."

"Can you talk with your mind?"

"Only to certain vivosaurs."

"Can you talk to mine?"

"No."

"What about yours?"

"Only spinax."

Does it talk back?"

"YES."

"Can I talk to it?"

"It's a he. And trust me, you don't want to talk to him."

"I feel like I should have a say in this questionnaire." Spinax chimed in.

"No, you shouldn't." Lila continued to bombard Hunter with questions. It had been going on for a few days now. They would meet up in the morning, and Lila would ask him questions about what he could do over pancakes. So far, Hunter had been able to get a pretty good grasp on what Lila could do as well. Except for one thing…

"Hey Hunter!" Lila's shout snapped him back to reality, "are you listening?"

"No. Any more questions?" Hunter laughed as Lila put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue at him.

"Hunter!" He turned to see Todd walking towards him, Hunter sat down on a nearby bench and waited for Todd to join them.

"Did you hear the news?" Todd was practically jumping as he spoke.

"What news?"

"They got the mammoth vision back. Joe's gonna make a public announcement today at noon!" Hunter stood up at this. The cup had been put on hold ever since the BB brigade had hijacked mt. Krakanak. If Joe himself was making an announcement, then that means the cup could be back on. Hunter's eyes flew to his watch. 11:46. Just a little bit longer.

"That's what you think," spinax laughed maniacally, "with my powers to stop time, you'll never know what he'll say! Mwhahaha!"

"You can't stop time."

"Curses! Foiled again." Hunter rolled his eyes, but didn't bother hiding his smile. The cup picking back up after Hiatus means he can get back to what he came here for. Hunter's smile persisted until he saw Lila's dark expression.

"Hey Lila," Hunter caught her attention, "why don't we try and find Alvis? We can tell him about the progress you've made."

"Oh right, let's go!" Lila ran ahead to nowhere in particular.

"Not so fast!" Hunter called. Todd began to snicker.

"What's so funny?"

"You sound like a dad."

"Oh, shut up." Todd laughed even harder As Hunter caught up to Lila and tried to convince her to hold his hand while moving through a large crowd.

"For what it's worth, I think you'd be a pretty good dad." Spinax commented.

"…thanks…I guess?"

"Of course, she'd also need a mom, so…"

"Shut up spinax." Hunter turned back to Todd, "I'll be back in a second!"

"Okay, tell Lila I said good luck with her lessons!" In all honesty, Hunter hated lying to Todd. For all he knew, he was Lila's tutor and Alvis was her grandfather. Still, it was either that or admit to being a wanted criminal.

"Hello you two." Alvis was sitting by an outdoor table next to the fossil guild, as if he was waiting for them. He probably was, Alvis had a tendency to be in the right place at the right time.

"How goes the training?" Alvis pushed his dark glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, Lila's foresight has definently improved," Hunter's voice had lowered to a whisper, "but soulflame is a little beyond her pay grade for now."

"Hey! I can still hear you!" Lila pouted as she sat down. Hunter snickered as the small girl did her best to look intimidating. In a way, Lila genuinely was intimidating, but not physically.

Hunter had his suspicions since their fight, but She had confirmed them afterwards.

Lila can see into the future. Not very far though, but still. While nearing soulflame, Lila can predict the actions of vivosaurs ahead of time by about 1 second. This is the main reason Hunter is training her to use soulflame, but there was another personal reason behind it. Controlling fire, seeing the future, influencing a person's mind. There's no way any of these are genetic mutations caused by the dinaurians. So what was really going on? Hunter intended to find out.

"Hear me out here," spinax cleared his throat, "…magic."

"I don't know, maybe?" Alvis laughed, "I gotta go, I'll catch up with you guys later." Hunter began jogging back to the main plaza. He needed to clear all this from his mind for now and focus on getting freedom first.

"Stay on target. Staaaaaaaaaay on target."

"Right, sure."

"Use the for-"

"You're pushing it." Hunter found Todd in the gathering crowd. They stood near the back in order to get a better view as the mammoth vision slowly came into view. As the massive screen lit up, Joe Wildwest was revealed to be standing in front of a desk surrounded by windows in a circular room.

"Howdy folks," his voice was magnified by the speakers, "I'm sure y'all have been worried bout the cup being cancelled, what with them barebones brigade folks an' all." The crowd had fallen silent.

"But if this don boneyard thinks he can stop my dream, then he'll just have to saddle up and make me! The caliosteo cup will never surrender!" The ground practically shook with cheers, Hunter and Todd included. The mammoth vision slowly flew higher up until it was on par with the Wildwest tower before flying back to wherever it goes. Hunter tried to check his beeping paleopager over the roar of the crowd.

"Rainbow canyon is now accessible from cranial island. Take the teleporter to the right for transportation." Hunter signaled to Todd and they slipped through the chaos.

"Where are we going?"

"Rainbow canyon. We'll be the first ones there!" They ducked under the descending stairway and entered the teleport at the end of the path.

"Let's get going before everyone else catches on." Hunter closed the door to the teleporter. Within seconds, the two were transported to a slim rock path surrounded by massive cliffs. The two walked out and looked around for some alternate route. There was none.

"I was expecting something a little more…more," spinax grunted. Hunter walked down the path with Todd close behind. They rounded a corner and almost fell over in shock. The canyon they were in was a small path connected to a vast drop beneath them. There was a small rocky area and a bridge that led to a small area marked with a sign that said "gondola station." The dig site wasn't near a cliff face, the dig site was a cliff face.

"This is a new one." Hunter mused. They slowly made their way across the bridge, making sure to step on stable boards this time, and walked over to a metal ladder leading down to a wooden trough big enough for about seven people to stand in. Todd gave one of the wires holding up the lift a tug while hunter inspected the instructions under the sign on how to operate the gondola.

"Give left lever located inside gondola slight pressure to descend. To ascend, give right lever slight pressure." He read aloud.

"I thought gondola's were boats," spinax asked, "what's up with this one?"

"Maybe it was a boat at…do you hear that?" At first, the rumble was quiet. Hunter and todd exchanged looks before looking over towards the entrance. The rumble had erupted into shouts and cheers. Two vivosaurs crashed against the cliffs as they grappled with each other. Fighters issued commands and crowds shuffled after them. The massive creature's easily launched themselves over the bridge and crashed back down to earth, rocking the ground furiously.

"I think they just created a new fault line," Todd crouched on the ground and used his hands for support. Hunter wasn't so lucky and tumbled off the cliff and into the gondola.

"Todd! Jump down!" He tried to jump, but Todd was thrown off balance and crashed on top of Hunter. The gondola shook and the wires holding it up were held taut.

"Let's go down before they get over here!" Todd shouted over the roars of the crowd and vivosaurs.

"Right!" Hunter pushed Todd off of him and crawled over to one of the levers.

"Do you know how it works!?"

"NOPE!" Hunter smacked the lever with his foldax, applying not very slight pressure. The gondola shot downwards abruptly, then jerked back into position. The two boys fell over again and laid on their backs in shock for a few seconds.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Todd managed to cough out.

"Just try not to land it in another gondola." Hunter stared up as multiple gondola's filled with other fighters lowered themselves at a much more reasonable speed.

"At least we're out of that mess up there…..spinax?" Usually spinax would've had a snarky comment by now. Hunter's hand went down to his holder and felt…only four Dino medals.

"At least now we can start dig-WOOOAAAAA!" Todd was sent careening back into the cart as Hunter spammed his foldax into the lever again and again. Each hit sent them jerking down wards until the gondola stopped right before hitting the bottom. Hunter jumped out while Todd threw up.

"Spinax!" Hunter called out with his mind, "SPINAX!"

"Eeeuuuaaaaeeeui," a quiet groan responded. Hunter followed the sounds of incoherent noises until he found spinax's Dino medal halfway into the ground.

"Sorry about that buddy,"

"….I want to die."

"We've already established they you might be immortal."

"HAVE WE THOUGH?!" While they argued over spinax's mortality, Hunter noticed movement behind a cluster of rocks. He slowly walked over and peered behind the cluster.

"Oh no," a girl that dressed like Pauleen and had pauleen's exact haircut was frantically checking parts of the ground and kicking up clouds of dirt, "didiga I drop it digadig?"

"Didiga I hear that right?" Spinax asked.

"Yeah, that's definently a digadig accent." Hunter mused to himself. By this point Todd had stopped emptying his stomach and had caught up.

"Whatcha looking at Hunter?" Hunter leaned his head in the direction of the girl. Todd peered over as the girl turned enough to show part of her face. She had bright blue eyes and small markings by her cheeks.

"Hey Hunter, that girl," Todd started.

"Yeah, she's probably pau-"

"She is sooooo cute!" Hunter gagged over his own words so he wouldn't finish his own sentence.

"I'm not gonna ruin this for him, he'll figure it out soon enough," he said to himself.

"We're lettin' the kid dream then?"

"Why not?" Hunter gave Todd a small shove, "well then, why don't we go talk to her? It looks like she might need help with something." Todd stammered a bit, but didn't protest.

"Excuse me," Todd cleared his throat and the girl that is probably Pauleen looked over at them.

"Are you having trouble with something? Because I can definently help." Todd continued.

"Gyah!" The girl made a high pitched noise and ran behind the cluster of rocks.

"So much for first impressions," Hunter patted Todd on the back.

"I'm sorry!" Todd called out to the girl, "I didn't mean to scare you. We're nice, I swear. Right Hunter?"

"Sure."

"Absolutely not," Spinax said with no humor in his voice, "run from me as fast as you can."

"What's up with you,"

"My fetch-quest sense is tingling," the girl walked out of her hiding spot, "back foul demon!" Spinax screeched. Hunter snorted in an attempt to cover up a snicker.

"You want to help me digadig?" She asked.

"Of course! We can definitely help, right Hunter?"

"Why not?" Hunter appreciated playing wingman. It was a lot better than being called turtle dove.

"Did you just…..willingly agree to a fetch quest?" Spinax's eye twitched.

"Relax, it my not be a-"

"I lost something really important to me, it's big and roundiga. Can you help me look please digadig?"

"…fetch quest."

"Well, well, well. The sixth sense never lies about fetch quests, neither does the eighth, seventh's a lying bastard though."

"We can definitely help look!" Todd exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm, "we'll go check up top while you keep looking down here." Todd was already climbing back into the gondola by the time he finished his sentence. Hunter climbed back in with him and gave the right lever a gentle push, lifting them up.

"Thank you digadig!" The girl waved and Todd waved back. Hunter was trying his best not to chuckle.

"Is this what it was like with me?" He asked spinax.

"Worse, at least Todd admits to it."

"Hey! I admitted to it….much later."

"I heard that last part. Don't you worry about a thing turtle dove, your old wingman's here to guide you through the wonderful world of being a wingman yourself."

"Revival machine no." Hunter turned to Todd, "so, any ideas where what we're looking for might be?"

"Well, we know that it's round and…big….huh." Todd scratched his head, "well, I guess we'll know it when we see it!" Hunter sighed.

"Oh, by the way. Girls don't like it when you act gallant and noble unless you genuinely are that way. Be yourself and everything should run smooth if you're a good person, and I know you are."

"…uh, thanks, but I don't know why you're saying this all the sudden."

"Whatever you say turtle dove." On the outside, Hunter was laughing while Todd covered his face to his his blush. On the inside, he was shrieking with victory while spinax hooted.

"I HAVE THE POWER!" He screamed in his mind, "THE GOD OF THIS WORLD IS ME."

"Oh, my dear pupil," spinax mused, "you have so much to learn in the ways of romantic torture."

"Teach me 'o wise one."

"…okay, too weird, even for me."

"Now you know how young me felt then."

"Touché, good sir." They eventually reached the top of the cliff face once again. This time, there were no fighting vivosaurs.

"Alright, you check that area over there," Hunter pointed Todd towards the right of the gondola station, "and I'll check what's behind that door." Todd nodded and walked off while Hunter made his way up to a wooden door past the wooden walkway for the station. He gave the door a push, but it wouldn't budge.

"Huh," Hunter looked over at a large metal pole next to the door. On top of the pole was a large yellow button. Hunter was about to press it when he noticed the note attached to the top.

"Area under construction, do not press button," he read aloud.

"Sounds legit." Spinax mused, "we should break it down."

"What happened to sounding legit?"

"Its definently legit, I still want to break it."

"Your destruction addiction is starting to become a problem." Hunter adjusted his goggles and turned around, "let's go look somewhere else."

"It's not an addiction! I can quit at any time! THESE ARE JUST CHOICES!" Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Let's jus-"

"Hey Hunter!" He immediately turned towards the voice. He recognized it almost as quickly. It wasn't Todd.

"This lady says she wants to talk to you. D'you know her?" Hunter turned to see Lila gesturing behind her. The girl behind Lila was wearing a white dress that acted almost as a robe. Her yellow eyes and subtle face markings gave her away instantly. It was Duna using her human disguise. Duna, the only person that can read him like a book and the same person who he told his name was Todd.

"Quintuple sh-"

Done! So, longer chapters, what'd you guys think?

Hunter: really? You're gonna leave it on a cliffhanger like that and not even address it?

Hey, I'm just trying to keep our swear word count to a minimum.

Hunter: so you ended the chapter…to censor me?

Pretty much

Spinax: well, I'm that case (deep inhale)

Hunter:….he's gonna blow

Spinax: SON OF A-

Thanks for reading!


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